Interview With An Ex-Outlaw
by moonshadowASJ
Summary: This is a post-amnesty story. Hannibal Heyes and Jed "Kid" Curry both received amnesty in the year 1883 and this story takes place forty years later, 1923. Several things have happened and many changes have taken place in those forty years. Note: There is an introduction at the beginning of the story which you should read before you start this story.
1. Chapter 1

"_**INTERVIEW WITH AN EX-OUTLAW"**_

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**musings from moonshadow:**

****Before we get into the main body of the story, I have been advised that, in all fairness, I should let readers know that this story contains the death of one of the main characters.****

Please don't let that stop you from reading the rest of this...Even though the character is gone, he is still VERY much a part of the entire story. In fact, you might be a bit surprised to find that it is HIS story that is being told in quite a bit of this; so he is still alive through flashbacks and memories of the other characters. Without him, there wouldn't BE a story to read.

Not to be misunderstood, this story is also a very special story of love. (In fact, a couple of the readers who were kind enough to beta this story for me have expressed their desire to be a female character in my next story!) To me, that is a major compliment!

For those of you who may have already read this story when it was first posted on another site...One last additional note on the violence: This is actually a watered-down version of the original story.

Although this was the most difficult story I have written thus far, I am very proud of the finished product.

I think I have managed to capture the essence of both men and create an emotional and unique adventure for the fanfiction reader to enjoy, despite its somber theme. At the conclusion of the story, you will find back-up information which may help you to understand my motivation for using certain plot devices.

I can only hope that you are willing to continue reading the entire story in spite of the spoiler. If you feel that you can't, I feel sorry for you; you will be missing out on a special tribute to a very special man. Trust me; you'll be glad you did!

Feel free to PM me if you don't feel like posting comments for the public; I would really be interested in hearing your thoughts when you are through reading the story.

moonshadow

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*Since it will become quite apparent which ex-outlaw is being interviewed from the very beginning, if you would like a smile on your face as you read through this, check out this link first:

Tennis_Blazer_Article_and_illustration

Historically, these examples are what the men wore at that time. Now all you have to do is picture Kid Curry thus attired…and read on.

**At the end of the story there are a few more tennis footnotes which are pretty interesting. Who knew?

For points of reference, I have used an ASJ timeline that I worked out many years ago for the benefit of MY fanfiction stories. In it, Hannibal Heyes was born in the year 1852, Jed Curry in 1854. They both received their amnesty in 1883, so "FORTY YEARS AFTER THE AMNESTY" would make the year 1923 for the time this story takes place.

Fun fact: It has been brought to my attention that my timeline actually coincides with real life. Not a planned move on my part, just the way it ended up when I compiled the events from the series to create it. According to the way I have calculated things, Jed "Kid" Curry is 69 years old at the time of the interview...the same age as Ben Murphy this year (2011), the year the story was written!

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_**PART 1**_

"_**THE SPIDER AND THE FLY"**_

_**CODY, WYOMING, MARCH 1923**_

_**THE RANCH OF HANNIBAL HEYES &amp; JEDEDIAH "KID" CURRY**_

Sam pulled the buggy to a standstill on the outskirts of the ranch. Once the brake had set, she laid down the reins and looked around with frank curiosity. The wooden sign which hung overhead swung gently back and forth on its rusty hinges, producing an intermittent squeak.

"The HH Bar JC Ranch," she read aloud. "Well, this is it, boy; we made it - good job."

It seemed to be a busy day at the ranch, with plenty of things to capture her interest, but the most eye-catching one of all piqued her curiosity and caused her brows to arch upwards, almost to her hairline. "_A tennis court," _she whispered,_ "way out here? _I wonder…? Hmm, I shall have to ask him about _that_ for sure." She made a mental note and added it to her list.

The object of her perusal was situated off to one side of the large ranch house and very well-maintained. Although familiar with the sport, having enjoyed several games herself, she still found it unusual to come across a personal, private court on a ranch way out in the middle of Wyoming. "Must be a mighty good conversation piece," she murmured. Her estimation of the former outlaw increased a notch. She used a finger to push her tinted spectacles back on the bridge of her nose where they would be of better use against the glare of the sun.

A sudden gust of wind created a whirling dervish which, in turn, propelled a large tumbleweed straight into the horse. Sam was forced to dive forward and make a quick grab for the reins when the bristly weed startled the animal and caused him to shy. She reached up a hand and patted the material covering her hair, glad for the protection of her bonnet against the unruly elements while she kept the horse and buggy under control. Although bonnets had pretty much fallen out of fashion, she was an old-fashioned kind of woman who preferred to keep her hair under wraps, especially when she was outside. It was for the same reason she still used a horse and buggy; she enjoyed this mode of transportation far more than the new-fangled automobiles.

"Easy, fella, it's okay," she soothed, making an effort to keep her own voice calm. "It's just the wind; nothing to be nervous about." Sam smiled when he whinnied and shook his head, his mane rippling with the movement. "Would I lie to you? I promise you'll be safe and sound in just a few minutes; we're almost there."

The animal gave a snort and pawed the dirt with his hoof.

With a slap of the reins they started forward again. As they drew nearer to the house, Sam tried to calm the swarm of butterflies that were fluttering against her ribcage in a wild dance. "It really is nothing to get nervous about," she whispered, repeating the words as much to herself as to her steed. "After all, he's just an ordinary, everyday man..."

An image flashed through her head and she bit back the bitter laugh that had almost escaped. "Liar," she chided herself, "there's nothing ordinary or everyday about him at all - who are you trying to kid?" That last word brought a smile to her face despite her trepidation. Sam drew in a deep breath and focused on releasing it slowly in an effort to banish the vision from her mind. "Get a hold of yourself, you silly goose! Whatever will he think of you if you show up acting like some giddy schoolgirl?"

**0000000**

Sam stepped up onto the porch, adjusted her spectacles and lifted her hand towards the door, but before she could knock, the door was pulled open and a man stepped into the doorway. Sam ducked her head while her hand dropped back down to her side.

"Mornin', ma'am; didn't mean to startle you, but I saw you from the window," the man explained. "Can I help you? Kinda outta your way, aren't you?" He raised a brow in inquiry and smiled. "You lost?"

Head still bent, Sam shook her head in denial and prayed her courage wouldn't desert her. "No, I've come to see Mr. Jedediah Curry; I have an appointment with him today."

Her words were met with complete silence.

When the quietness stretched into a feeling that became too uncomfortable to ignore any longer, Sam was forced to peek up through her lashes in order to see if the man was still there. He was, and judging by his expression he was not very happy at the moment. No, quite to the contrary, he looked more like a thunderstorm about to wreak havoc down upon anything – or anyone - that dared to get in his path.

"I _**do**_ have an appointment today," he admitted, "with a _Mister_ Sam Twain...but you're -"

"That's me - I mean I'm him," flustered, she expelled an exasperated breath, collected herself and tried again. "What I'm trying to say is that I'm her. My name is Sam," she stuck out her hand, "Sam as in short for Samantha."

Curry didn't reach for her hand. Instead he eyed her with disapproval while his own fingers clenched into a tight fist at his side. "You _lied_ to me, _Miss_ Twain," he answered in a quiet tone so cold it sent shivers down Sam's back despite the heat of the day, "An' I don't cotton much to liars," he added, his words managing to sound both ominous and as smooth as velvet at the same time.

"No - I didn't," Sam corrected him. Stung by the harshness of his words she added, "I merely omitted certain details. _YOU_ assumed I was a man."

"_YOU_ never corrected me neither!"

"Well, maybe not," she hedged, "but I never lied to you!"

"Was _**any **_of what you wrote in your letter true?" Curry snapped, "Or was it all a pack of lies, too?"

Her eyes glittering with sparks of indignant anger, Sam raised her chin a notch. "With the exception of keeping my gender a secret, the rest of the letter is the gospel truth!"

"Hmph," Curry gave a derisive snort,"Lady, you have no idea how many people have lied to me - to us! All those years, the whole time Heyes an' me were tryin' to get that blasted amnesty, we found out there were only two people we could trust - each other!" He ran a hand distractedly through his hair in his frustration. "It's hard for a stranger to understand, but after what happened to Heyes..." his voice trailed off and the air was filled with a strained silence.

Jed stared down at the floor for a moment before he raised his head in Sam's direction but it was as if he stared straight through her. _No, it's not hard, it's damn near impossible! It may not be your fault, lady, but I __**know **__there's no way __you can even come close to understanding. I lost the one person I trusted the most in this world; the one person who meant anything to me. Things haven't been the same around here ever since that day, an' I don't s'pose they ever will... _

Sam watched the man's face as Jed wrestled with his thoughts and was relieved to see that some of his anger had abated. She didn't move a muscle while she waited for him to continue. Everything depended on what happened next.

His expression enigmatic, Curry's eyes flickered over the woman standing on his porch before he heaved a deep sigh of resignation. "Well, guess that since you're already here, an' since I _**did**_agree to an interview with _someone_..." He lifted his shoulders in a desultory shrug before he turned around and walked back inside the house leaving Sam to stand alone in the open doorway.

She took a fortifying breath and stepped inside. Turning around to push the door shut behind her, she was reminded of a poem by _Mary Howitt_ that her grandmother used to read to her. It began with the lines,

"_Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly."******_

Well, while Jedediah Curry certainly wasn't a spider, and while she was not a fly, the anger and the animosity that emanated from the man was palpable and could be felt from clear across the room. It acted as a net and held her captive much like a spider's intricately spun web. His thunderous expression only served to give further credence to Sam's observation; the man looked as if the prospect of devouring her might be a rather pleasant, as well as satisfying, way to rid himself of her unwanted presence.

Furthermore, although his reaction wasn't entirely unexpected, it was much more real when she was standing in the same room, face-to-face with the man and experiencing the repercussions of his verbal backlash than when she had rehearsed things earlier in the safety of her hotel room. She set her portfolio on the couch and reached up to untie her bonnet strings.

"Don't bother," he snapped, "this** _interview_** won't last that long."

Sam stopped and lowered her arms obediently. Lacing her fingers, she clasped her hands together in front of her and turned to face him. "You aren't going to make this easy, are you?"

"Should I?" he countered.

"Well, as you pointed out, you **_did _**agree to it; you could just as easily have said no and sent me on my way. Instead, here we stand."

Her words were met with silence.

"I need a drink," Curry muttered, breaking the edgy stillness that had fallen, "but coffee's gonna have to do for now!" He turned away and busied himself with pumping the water. "Guess this is the part where I'm s'posed to ask you if you want something," he grudgingly tossed back over his shoulder after he had set the pot on to boil.

"**IF** you _**are**_ asking, then yes; a cold drink of water would be very welcome," Sam answered politely and watched as he filled a cup with water from the pump. "Please," she added.

He brought the cup to her and held it out. "I'm a man who lives alone. I don't have tea or lemonade, an' there sure as hell ain't any cookies or cakes, so - "

"There's no need to apologize - "

"I'm _**not**_ apologizing, I - "

"Water will do fine; I didn't come here to be entertained, Mr. Curry, I have a job to do."

Jed opened his mouth, but before he could reply, the sound of the water hissing as it boiled over drew his attention and he turned away to attend to it.

Sam took advantage of the opportunity to glance around. From where she stood, although the place certainly looked lived in, it lacked warmth. The furnishings were functional, but uninviting. It could have belonged to anyone, so sparse were the personal touches.

Pivoting about to look in the other direction, her attention was captured at once by a solitary object which hung by its stampede strings from a peg near the coat rack. Her eyes widened and she sucked in her breath. Drawn like a moth to a flame, she set her cup down and walked towards it. Tears pricked her eyes as she stared at it, while the memories washed over her like the waters of a dam that had burst.

About to reach up to touch it, she resisted the temptation, uncertain of the reaction her impulsive behavior might evoke. The man was in a bad enough temper already, there was no need to court trouble. She found she had to swallow the lump in her throat before she could trust herself to speak.

"You miss him...don't you?" she asked quietly. "How long has it been now?"

Curry didn't answer. Instead, he crossed the room to stand beside her and eyed her with open hostility. "In your letter you hinted that I _**might**_ remember you?"

"Yes. As I explained, I once spent some time up in Devil's Hole and - "

"The hell you did!"

The forcefulness of Curry's denial startled Sam and caused her to jump. It also brought her explanation to an abrupt end as she stared at him open-mouthed.

"I would remember you if you had! When your letter came, I had a hard enough time tryin' to remember a _**man**_ named Sam Twain, but now that I know the truth…" he shook his head. "We didn't get many _**visitors**_ up at The Hole an' the few we did have sure weren't female!" The atmosphere fairly sizzled with the heat of the ex-outlaw's ire as his angry accusations echoed loudly in the room.

"Now that I've got all the facts," he continued in a voice that was a low growl, "an' had some time to think about it, I can only recall **one** person who **might** even come close…" Jed's glare intensified until his eyes grew as cold as ice; his words were equally as frosty as he eyed her up and down with a scornful expression. "But there's no way in hell you could ever be her," he snorted with derision, "'cos she _**died**_ a long time ago! You're not scoring any points with me, lady, so you might as well come clean an' tell me who you really are!"

Not without some difficulty Sam managed to maintain some vestige of composure. "Nevertheless, Mr. Curry, I _**did**_ stay there with you and Heyes. AND there were other members of the Devil's Hole Gang, as well – I remember spending time with Wheat and Kyle. Preacher and Lobo were there, too."

"You're a reporter," Jed snapped, "It's easy enough to get names! The members of the Devil's Hole Gang weren't secret - I think your expectations as far as me rememberin' are pretty high, too! Nothin' you've said so far makes me want to believe you!"

Sam rolled her eyes and blew out an exasperated breath. "First off, I'm a _**journalist**__,_ and second, I don't _**expect **_you to remember it at all. It was forty-three years ago - that's a long time to keep a memory alive in your mind."

"_**IF **_it really _**is**_ a memory," Miss - ?" he quirked a questioning brow at her. "Am I s'posed to keep callin' you 'Twain'?"

"You're not the only one who can use an alias, Mr. Curry."

"_**You**_ have the need to use one?" he snorted.

"In this case, yes."

"And which case would that be?"

"I wasn't sure that you would accept my proposition if I used my real name. For the time being, I think it's better for both of us if we just get through the interview first. Once that's done, we'll see if you're still interested," she prevaricated.

"Whatever you say, _**Miss **__**Twain**_," Curry grumbled, acquiescing with unconcealed ill-humor.

Sam turned away to hide her smile of triumph. It wouldn't do to antagonize the man any further if she wanted to get the interview done before he threw her out! When she turned back to face him, she had taken care to school her features back into prim and proper ones.

"Have a seat, Mr. Curry, make yourself comfortable while I get my things; this won't hurt...much, I promise." Sam turned away to dig down into her bag. A moment later she had to bite down on her bottom lip to stifle her laughter when she heard his voice from behind her.

"Just who does she think she is?" Jed muttered, "Tellin' ME what to do! '_Sit down an' make yourself comfortable, Mister Curry...' _It's MY house - I'll sit down IF an' WHEN I want to!" He paused a beat before he snapped, "An' WHERE I want to, too!"

It took a herculean effort to compose herself before she turned around, but Sam managed. She breathed a silent sigh of relief when she saw the man had seated himself in the big horsehair chair in the corner of the room.

_Some things never change. _The thought ran through her mind in a split second when she realized how his instincts while on the outlaw trail still influenced his everyday habits. He had cleverly minimized his vulnerability with his choice. Back to the wall and protected, he had a clear view of the entire room as well as the door and the chair's size gave him the appearance of a king granting an audience to one of his subjects. _It is the exact place I would have chosen for him to sit but, for the time being, I think I shall keep that little tidbit of information to myself._

Despite the man's forbidding expression, Sam smiled in his direction. "Well, it looks like we're ready to begin. My first question concerns the events surrounding the day that you and Heyes first found out you had finally received the amnesty. I want you to tell me all about it in your own words; I'll take notes as we go along and ask questions, if necessary." Sam sat down on the couch, pen poised and waited. "Start with something easy; share how you felt that day with me."

Curry took a deep breath. "At first we didn't believe it. Lom had to do an awful lot of talkin' to convince us, an' even then, until we actually had those pieces of paper in our hands, an' could read the words printed on 'em, we kept expectin' it all to blow up in our faces, just like it had all those times in the past. We really _**wanted**_to believe that all those years on the run, tryin' to stay outta trouble had finally paid off, but we were afraid to celebrate. Guess we thought that maybe we'd jinx it somehow. I remember when Lom sent us the telegraph..."

The rest of the first part of the interview was a piece of cake. Sam listened with rapt attention as Curry told his and Heyes' story, painting a colorful picture of what life had been like after they realized that it was true, that they were no longer outlaws; no longer men with bounties on their heads or posters that declared them wanted dead - or alive. In spite of his initial reticence, as time passed Curry unbent enough to lean forward in his chair. Warming to his subject, his words became more and more animated as he shared the adventures of Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry and their newfound freedom.

An accomplished interviewer, one of the best in her field, Sam was skillful enough to draw Jed out, coaxing bits and pieces from the ex-outlaw without distracting him from his story. When he finished with one anecdote, she had a query ready to tempt him into sharing another adventure. She enjoyed her work and wanted to create a story for her readers that would leave them feeling as if they had been right there with the two men every step of the way. To her, it was a little like putting the pieces of a puzzle together in order to find out what the finished picture was.

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While Curry recounted another chapter in their lives, a tiny corner of Sam's mind worked on how she was going to broach what was probably the touchiest subject of the whole interview. Of their own volition, her eyes strayed to the black hat._ Oh, Heyes, I wish you had lived long enough to share your side of the story, too!_

Jed coughed and cleared his voice.

With a guilty start Sam realized he had stopped talking and was watching her the way a hawk eyes its prey. _For how long?_ she wondered. "I'm sorry, Mr. Curry."

"You look troubled - is there a problem?"

"No," she shook her head in denial and stared down at the floor to escape his penetrating blue eyes. A second later she shrugged. "Maybe." A frustrated sigh escaped her. "Yes." Sam put her pen down on her pad of paper and looked across the room. "I'm not sure, it's kind of hard..." she hesitated and looked to him in mute appeal.

"Let me guess; Heyes?"

Sam nodded.

"I know the feelin'; for me, it's nothin' new."

Sam nodded again. "It's not that he's a _problem_, it's just that Heyes is very much an integral part of this, but I don't want to push -" she hesitated again. Searching for the right words, she glanced out the window and caught sight of the tennis court. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that now it's up to you; the ball is in your court, Mr. Curry. I don't want to pry into something you'd rather not talk about."

Silence followed her words. She watched the array of emotions that played across the face of the man who had been the closest friend that Hannibal Heyes had ever had; the one person who had known him the longest and the best. As the seconds stretched into minutes, she bit her lip and waited. Not wanting to distract him in any way, Sam willed herself to relax and kept as quiet as a churchmouse.

Curry rubbed a hand across his eyes and leaned back to rest his head against the chair. "I sure could use that drink," he muttered.

"Go right ahead. You still a scotch man?" Sam inquired with an impish smile. "While you're at it, would you mind pouring one for me, too, please? I've changed my mind; I have a feeling I'm going to need it as much as you, if not more."

Curry sat forward and stared at her while he digested her words. His brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed into slits. "How - ?" he began and then snapped his mouth shut. Getting to his feet, he crossed over to the liquor cabinet, got two glasses out and poured the scotch. "Nevermind, I don't even wanna know - yet." He turned around and carried the drinks back to couch. "We need to get a few things straight before we go on. Jus' so that you understand how the game's played, I'm gonna be doin' my own interview when you're done doin' yours."

Sam took the drink from his outstretched hand, "Fair enough," she nodded and took a drink. Closing her eyes, she let the liquor roll around in her mouth, savoring the warm, woodsy taste as well as appreciating its smoothness before she swallowed. She released a drawn-out sigh of satisfaction and opened her eyes. Encountering a questioning look on Jed's face, she decided to take pity on the man.

Holding the glass up to stare at him through it, she said, "I learned from a very special person how to appreciate a good bottle of Scotch whisky." Rising to her feet, she held her glass out towards him. "Would you think it wrong or silly of me to suggest that we make a toast to Heyes? Before we get started on his part of the story, I mean."

Curry eyed her thoughtfully for a moment before he replied. "No, he'd probably be the first to agree with you." A grin tugged at the corners of Jed's mouth as he touched his glass to Sam's. "To Hannibal Heyes, gone - but never forgotten."

Sam nodded and took a sip of her drink. _No, nobody could ever forget you, Heyes._ The fiery burn of the scotch as it slid down her throat and hit her stomach was just what she needed. _With any luck, I'll be able to make it through the rest of this interview! _She put her drink on the table, sat down, and picked up her pen and paper. _Back to work…_

When Jed seated himself beside her, close enough to touch, Sam maintained her composure. When he turned sideways to face her, angling his leg on the cushion so that his knee brushed up against her thigh, she swallowed a small gulp, turned her head and stared out the window as if to admire the view. When he stretched his arm out behind her along the back of the couch close enough for his fingers to brush against the tendrils of hair on her neck, she leaned forward slightly and busied herself with straightening her papers. Sam was in the midst of congratulating herself for hiding her emotions so well when Jed's words stopped her cold and she froze like a statue.

"Nice try." His curry-blue eyes twinkling, Curry raised his glass in a mock salute to her, "But you gave yourself away."

Although she turned and met his gaze square on, Sam was unable to prevent the rosy tell-tale blush that stained her neck and cheeks. She forced herself to give him her full, undivided attention.

"Don't forget," he continued, "I had to keep Heyes an' me alive by readin' people's faces…an' their body language; it was part of my job. Right now, you're about as tense as a rattler coiled to strike. Wanna know what else I know?" He didn't wait for her answer, but leaned close enough for Sam to smell the scotch upon his breath when he spoke once again. "At the moment, you're tryin' to figure out why I sat here." His movements deliberate and casual, Jed reached straight across in front of the wide-eyed woman to pick up her glass of scotch from where it sat on the table beside her, an action which brought his body in even more close proximity to hers.

_Molasses in January moves faster! _Sam groaned silently. Hearing the blood pounding in her ears, she realized that she had been holding her breath and released it in a whoosh. _If there wasn't so much animosity between us, I would swear the man was flirting with me!_ She licked her lips and darted a quick glance towards the glass he held captive in his hand.

"An' now," Jed went on in a voice that Sam was positive had grown more husky, "you're wonderin' what I'll think of you if you take this glass an' down it in one great big swallow," his grin deepened as he held the drink out to her, "Right?"

Sam's breath caught as she reached out and their fingers touched. Bringing the glass closer to her body, she cradled it in her hands and stared down into the amber liquid. "I was," she admitted ruefully. Throwing caution to the wind she put the glass to her lips. Tipping her head back, she drank until the glass was empty and set it back down on the table. "Now, shall we get on with the interview, Mr. Curry?" she inquired in a tone that was brisk and businesslike.

"As you wish, _Miss Twain,"_ he replied and cocked his head to the side to study her for a moment. "Sure hope neither one of us has any reason to regret that you did that," he added.

Sam ignored the comment. "Think back to the events surrounding Heyes' death. I want you to take a moment and relax before you start to speak. I will _**NOT**_ be printing everything you tell me; just what I need to complete this chapter of the story. If for some reason it gets too personal, feel free to stop or tell me that you don't want it included. Keep in mind that since Heyes is gone, and therefore not able to speak for himself, _**YOU**_ are going to be his voice. Think about what he would want people to know about him; how he would want to be remembered.

"Hmph," Curry snorted, "you're not askin' for much are you? Lady, if you knew Heyes like you say you did, you'd realize that you're wantin' the impossible done when you say you want me to speak an' think like him!" Following Sam's example, he downed his drink in one gulp before slamming the glass down on the table with a loud bang. "It'd be easier to give swimmin' lessons to a rock!"

"We'll take things one step at a time, Mr. Curry. You've given me some wonderful information so far; I couldn't ask for a better interview. Because of the topic's sensitive nature, I saved it for last." She gave him a smile of encouragement, "We're almost done, so when you're ready, do just like you have been doing and tell me the story. I believe that I have most of the newspaper accounts, the 'historical' facts, but I'd rather have your own personal version. I'll be taking bits and pieces from both to create the whole picture for the readers."

With an expression on his face which said he'd rather do anything else than follow her suggestion, Curry leaned back and drew a deep, fortifying breath.

"Relax…" Sam admonished, putting a hand on his arm.

Jed shot her a look of irritation.

"Body language, Mr. Curry," Sam reminded him with a smug grin.

Although Jed gave a skyward roll of his eyes, he uncrossed the arms that were folded against his chest and unclenched fingers that had been closed into tight fists. After running a hand through his hair, he picked up his cup. "I need a refill," he muttered and turned to Sam, his brow raised in question.

"No, thank you; I've had enough. I'm going to need a clear head to keep up with you," she teased.

"Good luck with that!" Curry snorted. A short while later, drink in hand, he returned to his seat. Downing half of the contents, he leaned back and began to speak.

"Despite all the things that happened to us when we were kids an' the first half of our adult lives, once Heyes an' I got the amnesty an' were able to hold down legitimate jobs, we did very well. Actually, we did better than well, as you can see by the spread we have here. It wasn't easy at first; there were plenty of times I wanted to give up an' settle for second best, but not Heyes…" Curry shook his head.

**0000000**


	2. Chapter 2

_**PART 2**_

"_**PLAYING IT SAFE"**_

"Gradually, we were able to put our past behind us. We started out with what we knew best, banks - an' how to break into 'em." He grinned at her raised brow. "With some help from Big Mac McCreedy - an' Heyes' silvery tongue - we started our own security company, 'Playing It Safe.' I was the one to come up with the name, since that was pretty much all that Heyes was doin' - playin' his favorite game of breakin' into banks, only this time we were gettin' paid to do it!

"It didn't take long; once word got 'round that Hannibal Heyes was willin' to come in an' make their bank robbery proof, the managers had to stand in line an' take a number. When folks found out jus' how much of a genius Heyes really was, we could barely keep up with the work. My cousin was in his element; his mind was constantly bein' challenged to the limit, an' he thrived on it.

"As usual, I went along for the ride an' watched his back. Unfortunately, we found out real fast that I couldn't show up for work without my gun." His facial features hardened. "It never ceased to amaze me how many crooks out there still wanted to challenge me. Guess they didn't expect Kid Curry to 'retire', so I still had to defend myself as well as protect Heyes.

"We were very thorough and very serious. If we thought we were done, we staged a 'fake' break-in and tested ourselves. When Heyes an' me were done with a bank, it was as secure as the Denver Mint - only better!" he boasted, displaying a huge grin. "The bank trustees and managers were thrilled to death. But, on the other side of the coin, there were plenty of crooks who weren't too happy with the crimp we were puttin' in their money-makin' schemes; sometimes it seemed as if they were comin' outta the woodwork. We received threats on our lives on a regular basis; most of the time that's all they were, jus' threats. The ones that weren't," he shrugged, "well, we dealt with 'em.

"It was a whole different world than what we had been used to, especially when it came to our enemies. These types of men didn't play – or fight – fair. In all of our outlawin' days we'd never run into the way these criminals operated. Neither of us fully realized what we were really up against. Maybe if we had…" Curry's voice trailed off and he looked as if he might say more on the subject, but then he shrugged.

"So, that's the story of how we made our fortunes. I found this ranch while out ridin' one day an' talked Heyes into buyin' it. I had to promise him he could still go into town an' _'work'_, or else he never would've agreed to it. We still took the odd job every now an' then, but I noticed that we started to spend more an' more time here at the ranch. That was my plan all along, but I was smart enough to let Heyes figure it out for himself."

In addition to his Cheshire cat smile, Curry's eyes were twinkling. "It was easier that way. We'd never really had a place to call 'home' an' it took some mighty gettin' used to, especially for Heyes. Like I said, things were goin' real good for us. Heyes would go into town for poker games or he'd invite people out here for tournaments that would last for days. I kept busy with the horses an' relaxed on the tennis court when I could."

"Ah, I was wondering about that," Sam interjected. "How and when did you start playing?"

"It was a few years after we got the amnesty. We traveled to San Francisco an' paid visits to some of our old friends, Silky O'Sullivan, Soapy Saunders, an' Big Jim Santana an' his wife, Sarah. While we were at Big Jim's he showed me his court, an' from the first moment I held a racquet in my hand an' played my first game, I was hooked. It was in my blood an' it's never left."

"It's nice that you found something that means so much to you to help you fill your time, Mr. Curry."

"You might as well call me Jed," Curry corrected her with a grin. "We've spent enough time together I think we can be less formal, don't you agree?"

"I am not going to interrupt your story right now to tell you my real name, if that's what you're inferring; you'll just have to be patient and finish first," she retorted, softening her refusal by adding, "Please?"

Although Curry looked as if he wanted to push the issue, he refrained. "Alright, but you can't blame me for tryin'."

"Thank you, Jed," Sam smiled. "So, things were going well and life had settled down to being pretty peaceful around here. What happened to change it?" she prompted.

**"Heyes – that's what!"**

Sam gave a start at the vehemence in Jed's voice. "You mean Heyes, himself...or something that he did?"

"He took a job - _without me!" _Curry snapped. "An' that's _**always**_turned out bad for us. Jus' like splittin' up when there was trouble - nothin' good _**ever**_ happened when we did that. I did my best to try an' talk him outta it, but he wouldn't listen."

"But…I thought you said you had decided to let him take the jobs when they were offered?"

"I did, but this one, I jus' had a real bad feelin' about it right from the start. I couldn't put my finger on what, but it didn't 'feel right'. That was the main problem when I tried to convince Heyes not to take it an' again when it came time for him to go..." Curry fell silent and stared out the window. A strained silence permeated the room until he spoke again.

"I had come down with a real bad cold, bordering on pneumonia, an' was laid up in bed. I even tried to use that in my argument against him goin', but it didn't work; not this time. Heyes said he was _bored_ an' needed somethin' to do that would keep him outta trouble."

"Jed – hold up a minute. Could you please go back a bit and tell me about when Heyes first found out about this job? I feel like I'm missing something important."

Curry leveled a long look at Sam. The expressions that flashed across his face gave testament to the silent battle that waged inside him. When he got up and began to pace the length of the room, Sam followed him with eyes full of concerned speculation until the ex-outlaw stopped to lean against a counter. He gripped the sides of it with both hands and spoke without turning around.

"Most of what I'm gonna share with you won't be found in any newspaper story you ever read about the events surroundin' Heyes' death. This is the _**real**_ truth an' there's only a handful of people privy to this information; I hope I'm doin' the right thing by trustin' you with it. I need for you to know how important all this is, in order for it to make any kind of sense. This is the first time since things were finally settled that I've talked about it with anyone." He turned around. "I'd like you to put your pen down an' jus' listen – you think you can you do that?"

Never taking her eyes from his, Sam nodded and did as he requested. She could feel her the heart beating furiously against her ribcage and took a deep breath, wondering what on earth he was about to impart to her that couldn't be printed...and why? Why had anyone felt the need to hide any of the details surrounding Heyes' death?

"We got a letter from a man. He introduced himself as Mr. Anthony Part," Curry spat out the name in disgust. "The letter arrived the last day of June. Said he was the manager of a bank down in Thermopolis. He wrote that he'd been havin' problems with security issues an' needed our expertise and that we'd come highly recommended. What bothered me the most though, was that with his letter comin' as late as it did, he didn't give us enough time to do any of the background checks as thoroughly as we usually did before a job. He asked that we meet him at the train station on the afternoon of the fourth of July – we would discuss things first an' then go to work on the bank – an' the job was to be done at night, to boot!"

"That _**does**_ sound a bit odd, a night job on a holiday," Sam agreed, her brow puckered in thought. "This man…Part - did he explain _**why**_ the work had to be done at night and during the holiday?"

"Oh, yeah, he had a great story - real convincin' with all the right answers. His letter said it was kind of a last minute thing; that he'd understand if we decided that we couldn't take the job. Claimed it was an _emergency,_ that he had some very important people comin' to inspect the bank. He said that they were the ones who had chosen the date since they'd already be in town for the celebration an' it would be very convenient for them to do their inspection at that time because they had to leave the next day.

"Mr. Part said he wanted us to keep the work a secret because he didn't want anyone else gettin' wind that he was doin' the security check; said he wanted everythin' perfect for his visitors. Since most of the townfolk would be at the festivities durin' the day an' the fireworks show at night, they'd never suspect a thing. We were told that we couldn't tell another single person at all for any reason. He even went so far in his 'instructions' as to forbid us to communicate with him by sending a return telegraph – he insisted that if we wanted the job we should show up and if we didn't, then he would know we had decided against it; no hard feelin's."

"And what did Heyes think about all that?"

"That's just it - he didn't see anythin' wrong with the man's strange demands – not one damn thing at all! To tell you the truth, I think all the secrecy an' mystery jus' made it all the more appealin' to Heyes; it challenged him like no other job we'd ever had. I tried my best to convince him that he didn't have to take the job. I even reminded him that he'd planned on invitin' a bunch of folks over for a party here at the ranch." Jed looked at Sam. "You know what he said?"

Even though she knew it was a rhetorical question Sam shook her head anyway.

"He told me he had _**already**_ cancelled the party, that he'd contacted everyone an' told 'em that he'd make it up to 'em after we got back from this job. Then, he looked at me an' grinned an' said,

'Don't know what you're so all worked up about, Kid; you'll be right there beside me.'

"That was when I backed off. I figured I still had two days to work on him an' I was sure I'd be able to get him to see how bad of an idea it was by then."

"So now we're back to where you're laid up, sick in bed and can't go with him?"

"Yeah, but you know what? I really thought he'd stay. He _**looked**_ like he was goin' to, but in the end he said he _**had**_ to go; that he had committed himself to the job an' that, with or without me, he was _**obligated **_to do it. I felt like I was talkin' to a stone wall!" Jed bowed his head, drew in a deep breath, and released it slowly. "I wish now that I'd crawled outta my bed an' knocked some sense into him - made him listen to me!" He closed his eyes as he added quietly, "He might still be here if I had!"

"You did your best, Jed," Sam soothed, "Heyes was a grown man who made his own decisions. That day he chose what he wanted to do. We can wish all we want, but it won't change things. Life is full of things we wish we could have done a different way..." She took a moment to swallow the lump that had risen in her throat. "We all make choices every day; sometimes the choice turns out good, but there are times when the choice you make turns out bad."

**0000000 **


	3. Chapter 3

**PART 3**

"**REVENGE WITH A VENGEANCE"**

"**...And you - you'd better run - because I'm going to destroy you for what you've taken from me."****  
****~~ Samantha Youn****g~~**_**Blood Will Tell**_

**0000000**

"You don't know the whole story yet - this wasn't jus' a _**bad choice**_, Sam - it was one lunatic's sadistic way to exact revenge!" Curry growled. "I wasn't there, so all I have to go on are what other people saw fit to tell me. I heard the news first from the Thermopolis Sheriff, an' then Lom next, an' finally a walk-off named Vinny filled in the missin' details." He paused. "Here's somethin' else you'll find pretty interestin'…turns out 'Part' wasn't even the man's real name - he used an alias! Kinda ironic, ain't it? Go on," he urged, "see for yourself - spell his last name backwards."

A puzzled look on her face, Sam complied. "T-r-a-p..." As comprehension dawned, her eyes widened in surprise, "Trap?"

Jed nodded. "That, together with the initial 'A' equals 'A Trap.' Pretty clever, huh?" he snorted. "He was one of the crooks hired by men who were furious with us for ruinin' their plans; they wanted to get even with us in the worst way. Somethin' else really important that we didn't know about until it was too late was that he was from somewhere back East. That bank in Thermopolis had connections with the mob. I'd never heard of 'em before, but Lom dug up some information afterwards an' told me Part was the leader of a gang called, 'The Dead Rabbits Gang,' which was part of an even bigger gang called, 'The Five Points Gang.'" *******

"The mob?" Sam breathed, "That was never mentioned in the papers - I had no idea..."

"Neither did we. Part was bad news all around. Got real bent outta shape; told us his boss had accused us of tryin' to cut him out - _musclin' in on his territory_ – an' puttin' him outta business. At least that's what his note said."

"What note?"

"I'm sorry," Curry sighed in exasperation and shook his head wearily, "I'm gettin' way ahead of myself. I didn't know any of that 'til afterward. When all this was goin' on, all we knew was that someone with a really bad grudge against us had killed Heyes. It was only later that the Thermopolis sheriff, me an' Lom worked things out an' discovered the killer's real identity. There were three other men involved with Part - alias Anthony Cardone, alias Pokerface Tony - he was their leader."

"How in heaven's name did you ever get everything unraveled? I must admit it still sounds pretty confusing to me!"

"Not as confusin' as it was when we first had to piece things together right after he murdered Heyes."

"Tony…_**murdered**_ Heyes?" Sam gasped, "But…that's not what the papers said…" Her eyes widened with shock and suprise as another piece of the puzzle dropped into place and things began to take shape.

"Yeah," Curry's tone was clipped, "I know. Tony got Heyes there on false pretenses. It was an ambush - they were waitin' for him. Well, sort of, anyways. Tony an' his goons met the train. Oh, at first they were all real friendly-like an' 'talked' him up. It's an understatement to say they were surprised to find out I wasn't with him an' why. At that time, Heyes didn't have any reason not to tell 'em the truth.

"My not comin' along with Heyes messed up their carefully laid plans, but they never let on, instead they convinced him to go with them out to Tony's place to _'talk things over.' _Turned out his place was jus' an old barn on an abandoned farm out in the middle of nowhere. By the time Heyes figured out that somethin' wasn't right, it was too late; he was outnumbered." The words hung in the air as Curry fell silent.

"Jed..." Sam began hesitantly, "if no one was there - except the bad guys - how did you learn all this?"

"I got the words straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Vinny was an eye witness; he was one of the three goons that worked for Tony."

Jed's eyes turned icy and became the color of the sea during a turbulent storm. "I tracked him down an' was able to **_persuade_** Vinny that since he was the only one left of the three, it was in his best interest to tell me the truth. I can be pretty persuasive when I need to be," Curry stated without any hint of remorse. Silence filled the room while he crossed it to take his place next to Sam. Once seated, he leaned forward, put his arms on his knees and interlaced his fingers.

"They roughed Heyes up pretty bad that first time, but not so much that he couldn't do what they required of him; they still needed him at that point. Once they had **_convinced_** Heyes to cooperate, they took him back to town and straight to the bank. Tony had been right about one thing; the place was pretty deserted with folks off celebratin' the Fourth an' gettin' ready for the fireworks. I'm sure Heyes was still busy workin' on a plan, but for once, he didn't succeed. They forced him to get them inside the bank an' open the safe without triggerin' any alarms; he got them through every single security measure we had installed."

"So...you're saying that Heyes went along with them? Just like that? He never even tried to escape?"

"No, not exactly. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't've done one thing they asked him to, but these weren't normal. See, the thing was that Tony was smart enough to know what Heyes' weakness was an' he used it against him, knowing full well that Heyes couldn't refuse. He had a special leverage that Heyes couldn't fight against. He told Heyes a flat-out lie," Curry growled, his expression grim, "Said that there was someone back here at the ranch with me an' that they had orders to kill me if one thing went wrong!"

"But…they didn't really – did they?" Sam cried, "And Heyes believed him?"

"You have to understand something, Sam. This time Heyes was all alone, without anyone to back him up an' he thought my life was in danger – our reputations, the money – none of it mattered; they could be replaced, I couldn't. Thermopolis is only a four hour's ride away, so as far as Heyes knew, they _**could**_ have sent someone out here. Without bein' able to verify it, Heyes wasn't willin' to take the chance that Tony wasn't tellin' him the truth. It was a lie that lured him there, an' another lie that got him killed!

"It was jus' one more lie to add to the passel of 'em we were told while we were outlaws!" Curry snarled. An uneasy quiet filled the room after his outburst until he spoke again. "It's because of lies that he was killed the way he was!" Jed cried angrily. Head bent, he stared down at hands that were shaking from his emotions as he continued to lash out, "Heyes didn't deserve to die like that!" In contrast, when he spoke again a moment later his voice was quiet, devoid of all emotion. "We were _**both**_ supposed to die that night - the only reason I'm still here is because I was too sick to go along with Heyes on that job."

Sam worried her bottom lip between her teeth. "So...that's why you got so angry when you found out I didn't bother to straighten out the truth when I wrote to you?"

Curry nodded without looking up.

"I guess I never thought about it from that point of view; I'm sorry." Sam took a deep breath. "Jed, would you rather we ended things here? I can -"

Curry lifted his head and shook it. "No, I think it's time that people know the truth – the **real** truth. Like you said, this is Heyes' story an' I know he'd be the first to say no more lies. I wasn't ready before to share it, but I'm gonna do my best to make amends. That's why I wanted you to jus' listen, so you'd hear everthin'; you can choose what to use later. Let's go on an' get this over with; as far as I'm concerned, the sooner the better. Jus' keep in mind that what I've told you so far is nothin'. You should be prepared - it gets worse."

While unsure whether or not she wanted to hear any more details, Sam sensed Jed's need to release some of what he had been holding inside all this time and nodded her acquiescence as she braced herself for whatever lie ahead. "Go ahead, Jed; I'm listening."

Curry began to speak, his words coming in quick succession, "Accordin' to Vinny, everythin' went like clockwork; not one problem. Once they had the money, they tied Heyes' hands, blindfolded an' gagged him an' got him outside an' into the wagon without anyone ever seein' a thing. The papers gave the same account. From the time the bank closed until the next mornin', when the real bank manager went in to open up an' the break-in was discovered, not one single solitary person saw a thing. I don't know how," he shrugged, "but if they did, nobody was willin' to come forward.

"Tony had it all planned out, down to the last tiny detail..." Jed paused. "Once they got back to the barn an' removed the gag, Vinny said Heyes was still tryin' to talk 'em outta takin' off with the money, sayin' he knew what it was like, an' how he understood all about livin' on the outlaw trail, that he'd even help 'em, talk to the authorities an' put in a good word for 'em." He drew in a deep breath and shook his head, "Even with the cards stacked against him, Heyes would always keep on talkin..."

He turned his head to give Sam a sideways look. "This next part is painful - difficult - for me to talk about. It was almost impossible for me to think what Heyes went through at the hands of those sadistic monsters! I came damn near close to beatin' Vinny to death when he told me how he had helped to torture Heyes – I grabbed him, put my hands around his throat an' I started to choke him before I could stop myself. I only spared him because I needed him alive! He was willin' to tell me the truth. Vinny was the only smart one; decided he didn't wanna suffer the same fate as the other two goons."

At Sam's gasp of in-drawn breath, Curry turned away from her, his back ramrod stiff. "Think whatever you want - I had to get to the truth somehow! I needed Part's real name, so I did what I had to do." There was a brief silence before Jed added, "An' this was for Heyes…"

The words were spoken so low Sam had to strain her ears to hear them. "I wasn't judging you, Jed," Sam protested quickly, "Given the circumstances, some people might have done worse."

He turned back long enough to give her an enigmatic look. "An' some people wouldn't have done anythin' at all..." He brought the rest of his body forward and dropped his head into his hands again. "Once they had the money in their hands an' made it safely back to the old barn, things went from bad to worse for Heyes. There wasn't any warning; I'm sure he thought the worst of it was over, just like all the other times before.

"I would guess that he was lookin' forward to gettin' turned loose so he could come back home an' tell me all about his adventure an' how we'd have to go to the law an' get Lom's help to track down the bad guys so we could make 'em pay for tryin' to frame us." After a slight hesitation, Curry added pensively, "Yeah, I'm sure all those thoughts an' more were runnin' through his head that day.

"He didn't have any idea until then who Part really was. Like the rest of us, he jus' thought he was a very bad crook with a very good plan. He might even have admired him. That feeling didn't last long, though. The way Vinny told it, once Tony revealed his true identity, Heyes got a real funny look on his face - Vinny says he looked like he was sick - an' then he got quiet, didn't talk as much. My guess is that must've been the moment when Heyes started to realize things had gone sour." His voice dropped to a whisper, "He was probably wishin' for some kinda miracle…or maybe that his partner was somewhere close by, but neither of those wishes had any chance of comin' true…" With a sigh he added, "No, not this time."

During the last half of the interview Sam had witnessed a gradual transformation in the storyteller's face. Blue eyes that had once held at least a hint of warmth were now the color of cobalt; they had become as cold as a winter's night and as empty as the threadbare pockets of a street beggar. Raw emotions etched on his pale, haggard face were deeper than a gorge in the Grand Canyon; Jed looked as if he had aged twenty years in the past few minutes.

The physical changes frightened Sam almost as much as his words. Unable to prevent her own tension from mounting, she felt her stomach muscles clench tighter and tighter as the rest of the story was revealed. As Jed began to speak again, when he began to relate what Sam realized were the real final details surrounding Heyes' death, she pulled herself together with an effort and prayed she'd be able to make it all the way through.

"Tony took great pains - an' derived even greater pleasure - in lettin' Heyes know in no uncertain terms how infuriated he was with him - with us. Made sure Heyes understood that both of us were going to be made to pay. Told Heyes he was gonna teach him a lesson first to show him what happened to people who meddled in affairs they shouldn't. He said we never should've stuck our noses into somethin' we had no business gettin' involved in.

"He told Heyes that he was going to make an example of him so that nobody else would be stupid enough to mess with the mob. Finally, he asked Heyes if he had any idea how 'unwanted pests' were dealt with back East. Vinny said Heyes gave some smart-mouth answer like,

'_Turn them loose so they could continue to enjoy life as pests?'_

"Tony didn't appreciate the attempt at humor; his answer was to turn around, pick a hammer up off a table an' bring it down on Heyes' right hand! He smashed the bones - busted it open!"

"NO!" Sam protested, shocked and appalled by Curry's words, "OH - Poor Heyes!" she cried. Her thoughts went immediately to those nimble fingers working the combination on a safe…now crushed and bleeding! She slid forward to the edge of her seat, tucking the fingers of one hand inside the other hand in an unconscious gesture of shared pain and sympathy for the man she had known.

"The assault came as a complete shock to Heyes - like a sucker-punch - he never saw it comin'. We'd never had to deal with anyone like that before; even our worst beatin' didn't compare to that kinda treatment! Tony could've stopped there, but he didn't...kept on tauntin' Heyes, sayin' how much he was gonna enjoy doin' the same thing to me. He was merciless in his attack, both mentally an' physically destroyin' Heyes!"

"Oh, Jed..." Sam's eyes began to pool with unshed tears; she raised a trembling hand up to her mouth.

"Tony was nothin' but a yellow-bellied, lily-livered coward! It wasn't a fair fight! Heyes couldn't fight back - tied to a chair - he was helpless to defend himself!" With furious, jerky motions Curry scrubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. "The worst part of it was that he was alone – can you understand what that meant? HE WAS ALL ALONE! He didn't have _**me**_ there to watch his back!"

Sam could see the wetness on his hands and felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. Her heart went out to Jed; she wanted to reach out and touch him, to comfort him, but as angry as he was she was afraid of what his reaction might be. Whatever had happened was enough to make this man, who was normally a tower of strength shed tears. "Oh, Jed, I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I never knew! The papers – the stories they printed - they never even remotely hinted at anything like that!"

"There's a lot they didn't know...or say. I wanted it that way. I had to do a lot of talkin' but I finally convinced the authorities to go along with me, with a lot of backup from Lom." Curry took a deep, shuddering breath. "I didn't want people to know what that - that _animal_ really did to Heyes! There were some things I needed to take care of before the truth came out." He fell silent and his lids shuttered his eyes. "I wish I was done with telling you what happened to Heyes," he whispered. When he opened his eyes and turned to look into Sam's she saw the raw pain and despair he had kept hidden until now.

"Surely you can't mean…there's more?" she whispered back. A sense of foreboding gripped her tight in its sharp claws. She felt lightheaded and it was becoming harder to breathe, as if the air had been sucked from the room all of a sudden.

"Tony wasn't finished punishing his prisoner yet. As part of his revenge he reminded Heyes one last time that it wouldn't be long before his partner was goin' to be gettin' the same treatment, only he was gonna take more time an' do it slower. Went into great detail, an' all the while Heyes was dyin' a little at a time.

"Vinny said that despite all the pain Heyes was in, barely hangin' on as he was, he still tried to convince Tony to spare me. Didn't beg, jus' used real persuasive words, like only Heyes knew how to do. Of course Tony refused point blank; it was all part of the sadistic game he was playin'. Heyes could keep a poker face, but he was jus' as good at looking at another player an' knowin' what kinda hand they had. He..." Jed was forced to stop and swallow the lump in his throat before he could continue. "Heyes would've been able to read Tony's face," he whispered brokenly, "He'd've known that Tony wasn't gonna let him live..."

Frozen in place by his words, Sam couldn't have uttered one word to save her own life at that moment. She tried to swallow and felt her chest constrict even more as her mind fought to deny the pain and suffering that Heyes had endured at the hands of the madman. _I can do this, I have to…Jed needs me, _she reminded herself, _We must be almost done...? _Sam wished she could cover her ears to shut out whatever else he had to say, but her hands wouldn't heed her silent pleas of cowardice.

"It tears me apart every time I think about Heyes spendin' the last bit of time he had left worryin' 'bout ME!" Jed whispered, the anguish in his voice tearing Sam into shreds. "I'd like to think he was unconscious by that time, that maybe he didn't know or understand what was happenin' to him. That's better than the thought that he lived long enough for Tony to demonstrate how he earned the nickname of Pokerface."

Jed squeezed his eyes shut. "I was stupid enough to assume it was from playin' cards - I couldn't have been more wrong!" he admitted with a bark of self-deprecatory laughter. "Tony was a member of the mob, for chrissakes - he was a pro - torture was a game to him! He knew how to inflict the worst possible pain imaginable…an' that's what he did to Heyes!" The low, guttural growl that came from somewhere deep inside only hinted at the man's distress, but it had a gut-wrenching effect on Sam. Without giving her time to recover, he rushed on.

"Tony enjoyed taking away the things that meant the most to his victims - that's how he got his kicks. That's why he used me against Heyes every chance he got. What meant the most to Heyes, aside from his hands..." Jed stopped, his fingers clenched into fists so tight his nails cut deep grooves into his hands, "He used ME – to cause Heyes pain! Tony held his gun in one hand while he taunted his prisoner with words and watched him squirm! He played a Russian Roulette game, with only one bullet loaded in the chamber. Tony would point the gun at Heyes and pull the trigger. I'm not sure how long this went on – I don't want to know!"

"Like the emotionless, cold slimy snake that he was, Tony enjoyed looking into his victim's eyes while he tortured them," Jed swallowed and opened his own curry-blue orbs, filled with pain, to stare into Sam's face. "That's how he got his nickname – Pokerface – because he could keep a poker face and stare into their eyes, an' see the victim's fear, all the while knowin' that they knew they were about to die -"

"No! Stop – please, no more!" Sam clamped her hands against her ears to shut out his voice. "I...I can't, Jed - I'm sorry..." She jumped to her feet, upsetting the end table and sending both the lamp and her glass crashing to the floor where they shattered into pieces. Ignoring both, she ran from the room, her only thought to get far, far away. Heading towards the door and reeling from shock, her feet carried her away from the graphic picture Jed's words had created. It didn't take long for her to realize that, although her feet might be able to take her away from his voice, unfortunately she couldn't erase the horrific images from her mind as easily.

Her hand on the doorknob, she closed her ears to Jed's voice pleading with her to wait and wrenched the door open. Running blindly, she headed for the shape of a large oak tree on the far side of the house and only stopped when she reached the fence that surrounded it. Grabbing the top rail with her hands, she dropped her head down onto her arms and didn't attempt to hold anything in or back.

Jed's words ringing in her ears, she cried, "Oh, God, Heyes...how could that monster do...that to you? How could anyone hurt you? Do something that sick, that wrong - that atrocious - to a person who was so good, so kind, so gentle...?" As the bile rose in her throat, Sam heard running footsteps come to a grinding stop behind her. With her eyes still closed tight, she raised her head and covered her mouth with both hands, willing herself not to be sick.

"I'm sorry, Sam – forgive me, please? I never should've told you! I didn't think - I jus' needed someone to listen to me, to understand an' let me talk! I had to get it out of my system! I've had to keep the truth bottled up inside me all this time; I should've known better! I'm real sorry…Hey, you want some water or...?" he took an uncertain step towards the woman. "Say something, Sam! Let me help you -"

Sam started to shake her head, but stopped when she felt her stomach give a warning lurch. She settled for waving a dismissive hand at him instead and began to count down backwards from ten. Upon reaching one, she opened her eyes with caution only to face a whole new tableau of horror. While her mind was capable of quickly processing the information, it was slow to accept the reality. She blanched and her eyes filled with fresh tears of anguish as she took in the gravesite and read the name on the marker: _Hannibal Heyes_. It was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Having endured more than her mind could take, Sam fell sideways to land in a crumpled heap on the ground.

"Aw, hell!" Jed muttered right before he sprinted forward to drop down beside the prostrate woman.

**0000000**


	4. Chapter 4

**PART 4**

"_**ALIAS SAM TWAIN"**_

"_**The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it."**_

**~~Wendell Berry~~**

**0000000**

"Sam? Hey, c'mon...open your eyes!" Curry patted the journalist's cheeks harder than he had the first few times. "Aw, c'mon, Sam...wake up - _**please?**__" _he coaxed as he reached over to grab a wet washcloth. Dabbing it gently on her forehead and cheeks he released a frustrated breath. "Sure wish we'd had that conversation already, Sam. You know, the one where you tell me your _**real **_name?" he groused. He leaned down to put his ear near her mouth and as he turned his head, he could see the rise and fall of her chest._ Yep, she's breathin' alright..._He submerged the cloth in the water again and dropped it across her face.

Almost immediately Sam bolted upright coughing and sputtering. "What are you trying to do - drown me?" she protested indignantly, her muffled voice coming from beneath the sopping wet cloth that still clung dripping from her face.

"Sorry," Jed said as he removed the washcloth. "Guess I forgot to wring it out."

"That's an understatement," Sam muttered wearily and fell backwards upon the cushion. "You don't _**sound**_ sorry," she commented, her tone tinged with suspicion. Eyes still closed, she reached up with her hand to swipe at her wet face. "Where are my glasses?" she demanded.

"I _**am**_sorry," Curry said again as he handed her the eye-wear, "Here they are, I even cleaned -"

"Would you quit apologizing - _**please!**__" _Sam cut him off mid-stream. "I **asked** you to tell me; it's not your fault – or mine - that my stomach can't handle the truth." She placed the spectacles on her face and opened her eyes slightly. "That was some ending...I can't tell you how glad I am that you never had to deal with men like that before. I won't be able to forget what Heyes went through for a long, long time..."

With a deep shudder she turned on her side and wrapped her arms around the pillow. "Until today," she continued in a reflective whisper, "I thought_**I**_had the market cornered on hatred for another human being, but after listening to you, what I feel isn't even a drop in the bucket compared to what you must feel for Tony." She shivered.

When Curry maintained a stoic silence, Sam cocked her head to the side to look up at him. "I have one last question…strictly off the record. IF you choose to answer, what you say will stay just between us and no judgment on my part, I promise."

Curry weighed her proposition and then gave a curt nod. "Shoot."

Sam winced at his word choice. "Aren't you in the least bit afraid...that Tony will still come after you? You said that Part told Heyes that he would do worse things to you."

A lengthy silence permeated the room and a guarded look came over Jed's face before he answered. "No."

"But - "

"Part lied to Heyes; he only said those things to hurt him in his most vulnerable spot. What he really wanted to do was to use Heyes and Curry to set an example to any others who might want to interfere in his business. He wasn't afraid of me. He never expected me to come after him."

Sam pondered his reply for a moment. "Can Part...can he ever hurt anyone else?" she finally ventured.

The quietness that followed her question went undisturbed until Curry broke it. "Heyes was the only family I had left an' Part robbed me of him – he took away the time we had left together! I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier that I practically had to force Lom to deputize me. Told him that I was going to go one way or another to find Part an' that if he wanted things to be done legal, then he'd better listen. Part and his men were wanted for murder, so even though I was alone, now I had the law backing me up."

He blew out a breath. "It kinda reminded me of the days before we received amnesty, since Lom couldn't very well let it be known that he'd sent Deputy Kid Curry off to track down some mobsters." Jed's features hardened. "When I finally caught up to Part and told him who I was, I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn't gonna let me bring him in alive an' that it was gonna be him or me, so let's jus' say I decided to play the game his way." He hesitated before he added quietly, "I wanted justice for Heyes; I had to settle for revenge."

"Would...would you think me a horrible person if I said I'm glad?"

"No, because that's exactly how I felt, too."

Two pairs of eyes met and locked. A look of mutual understanding passed between them right before a faint smile lifted the corners of Curry's mouth. Having had the opportunity to share some of his grief and memories of Heyes with someone else and knowing that at last some of the truth of what Tony and his men had done to Heyes would become public knowledge, Jed's black mood lifted a bit; his tense muscles begin to relax one by one. With the interview over and behind him, and Sam seeming to be almost back to her old self, it was time to move on.

"That was _**more **_than one more question, _Miss Twain_, which reminds me," Curry's smile transformed into one which resembled the cat who has found both the bowl of cream _and_ the canary's cage unlocked, "Now it's _**my**_ turn!"

Her face now buried deep into the crook of her arm, Sam's reply was somewhat muffled. "If Heyes were here, he'd be teasing you about not remembering anything you read, Curry." She rolled onto her back and crossed her arms across her stomach and cast a speculative look at him.

"Oh, would he really?" Jed gave her a curious look. "Why?"

"Sam Twain's a combination of two names I borrowed from a _very_ famous author. In fact, I believe Heyes mentioned once that he was one of _your_ favorites, too." Sam rose to her feet carefully and crossed over to the kitchen to stare out the window. She quickly averted her eyes and stared down into the sink instead when she realized she was staring at the tall oak tree that towered over Heyes' final resting place.

"Twain…hmm?" Curry said thoughtfully and mulled over her words. He cocked his head to the side, "As in _Mark Twain?"_

"Correct," Sam pivoted about and nodded, "and Sam is from Twain's counterpart, Samuel Clemens. I thought it only fair to borrow the monikers from someone who was such a success with his own alias; I hoped it might bring me good luck."

"But," still deep in thought, Curry's brow furrowed, "that would mean that neither of those names are really yours, so…you _**did**_lie to me after all!"

"Oh, no, no - wait a minute!" Sam held up a hand to protest her innocence, "Give me a chance to explain! Sam is also short for Samantha, as I told you at the door, but Samantha is my _**middle**_name, not my first."

Maybe it was the emotional stress of having to relive Heyes' death, or the fact that Sam didn't seem at all concerned with her duplicity, or possibly even a combination of both, but Curry's good mood deteriorated; it disappeared even faster than it had materialized. Unfortunately it took his patience along with it. With an agility that belied his age, Curry crossed the room and grabbed her by her upper arms. "Why all the secrecy - _**who in the hell are you?"**_he demanded.

It was a repeat performance of the previous storm that had brewed in the curry-blue eyes, but this time Sam was experiencing firsthand the full depth of his anger in the strength of the punishing grip he had on her arms. With an effort she pushed her fear down and strove to keep her tone neutral. "I had my reasons, but there isn't any big conspiracy to keep anything a secret. I _**honestly**_ wanted to do this story – it was something that was important to me - and, as I explained to you earlier, I wasn't sure of the reception I'd get if I used my real name so -"

"I'm tired of hearin' that excuse – we're going to get down to the truth - take off that blasted bonnet right now!" Curry snapped.

Despite her outward show of bravado, Sam's heart was pounding so hard against her ribcage she thought it might explode. She glanced down at her arms with a grimace; the fingers digging into her flesh were going to leave bruises. "You're going to have to let go of my arms first," she pointed out.

Although the intensity of his searing glare increased, Curry released her non-too-gently and took a step back. "All part of the lie, huh? I wondered why you were wearin' somethin' as ugly as that, but I was _**too polite**_to say anythin'!" he growled.

Ignoring the jibe, Sam reached up to untie the strings with shaking hands and willed them to stay steady. _You knew the risks you were taking when you decided to do this…_she reminded herself sternly. Once she had pulled the hat off her head she stood on legs that had turned to jelly and waited.

Curry continued to stare at her with narrowed eyes and then he shook his head. "Not good enough!" he ground out. In the blink of an eye he reached out and removed several of the pins that had held her coiffured hair in place, releasing a mane of silver and gray hair to cascade down her back.

"Still not right..." Jed muttered with a frown and subjected her to a thorough perusal that went from her booted feet all the way up to the top of her head. "There's _**nothin'**_ familiar 'bout you, lady, unless I'm missin' somethin'…" Curry's brow furrowed even further while his gaze travelled up and down again, this time with an even more critical eye. His examination complete, he found himself staring at the top of a head bent down to stare at the floor; his eyes narrowed. "Look at me!" he demanded curtly.

Sam took her time obeying the command and lifted her head slowly until she made eye contact with him.

After another eye-squinting once-over, the corners of Curry's mouth turned up and the perplexed expression vanished. He strode forward to lift the tinted glasses away from the woman's face and then stepped back to stare at her .

Although she didn't flinch, Sam had been unable to prevent herself from closing her eyes when his hands brushed up against her cheeks.

It came as no surprise when Curry brusquely ordered, "Open 'em back up!"

Sam didn't need to ask what he meant. Slowly she lifted her lashes until she could look fully into his face.

When turquoise orbs met curry-blue, Jed sucked in his breath unable to accept the information his eyes were transmitting to his brain. "No...there's no way," he gasped hoarsely, "It can't be!" His eyes flicked to her hair. _A different shade, but..._He stared deep into her eyes again, needing more affirmation. "You _**can't**_ be here," he whispered, "I read the article in the newspaper..." All the color receded from his face, leaving Jed pale and looking as if he had just seen a ghost. "_Teddy?" _he breathed.

"Guilty as charged -" The rest of her muffled words were lost as she was engulfed in a great big bear hug that threatened to crack her ribs when Curry embraced her as if he was never going to let her go.

"But how…?" he whispered into her hair, "They told me you were dead!"

Once again tears pricked her eyes but this time she didn't attempt to hold them at bay. As wave after wave of emotion ran through her, she felt her body begin to shake. In all the scenarios she had envisioned in her mind of this day, she had never gone as far as daring to hope to be received with this much pleasure. Wrapped up safe in the protection of Jed's arms, she felt as if she had come home and didn't care if she ever moved.

_Please, Jed - please - don't __**ever**__ let me go..._she pleaded silently. Pressed up against his chest, she could hear his heart pounding at a furious pace, keeping tempo with the staccato beat of her own. She could feel the man's trembling as well and wondered what was going on in his mind right now. As if he had heard her thoughts, he began to speak.

"Oh, God, Teddy…I can't believe it - it really IS you!" Jed whispered, "I never thought I'd ever see you again! There was a newspaper article – it said you had been killed! I don't care how or why it's not true, but please...don't let this jus' be another one of my loco dreams…tell me you're really here?"

Teddy pulled back just enough to cup the man's face between her hands and looked deep into curry-blue eyes. What she saw in his face tugged at her heartstrings and assuaged her guilty conscious a bit for what she had put Curry through. "I promise you that I _**am**_ here and I'm _**very, very**_real, Jed..." Too caught up in her emotions to say another word, she settled for putting her arms around Jed and pressing her body closer to his. She released a deep sigh of contentment when he reciprocated the move.

They stood like that, wrapped in an embrace, for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only minutes, content with being in each others arms, able to feel the contact of the other person's body against theirs. It was only when Teddy became aware of the fact that if Jed squeezed her any tighter she would be in danger of passing out that she spoke.

"Jed, as thrilled as I am to be in your arms right now, I _**do**_ need to breathe!" she teased. When she pulled back against his arms, he loosened his hold just enough to allow her to tilt her head back to look into his face. A heartbeat later he had claimed her mouth in a searing kiss that soon had her in greater danger of fainting than before.

With great reluctance Teddy broke the kiss to rest her head against his chest. "Jedediah Curry...I am serious!" she gasped, "I am going to be a wilted puddle on your floor if I don't get a chance to put some oxygen into my lungs!"

Curry's answer was to scoop her up into his arms and carry her over to his chair, the one in the corner of the room. Sitting down, he positioned her on his lap, pulled her back against his chest and kept a tight hold on her. "Will this do, ma'am?"

Teddy picked up one of his hands to hold in hers and snuggled under his chin. "Umm, yes sir…this will do just fine," she whispered. Breathing in Jed's scent, there was a smile on her face as she exhaled slowly, ending with another deep sigh of blissful content. A manly smell, it consisted of an intoxicating mixture of coffee, scotch, leather...and sweat. Comforting as well as extremely pleasant, it conjured up other special memories of days gone by.

**0000000**


	5. Chapter 5

**PART 5**

"_**A LOT OF WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE"**_

Jed was the one who broke the silence that had fallen between them. "I never knew your real name, you know. All you ever told us was Teddy."

"Well, you have to admit, Theodora Samantha Montgomery _**is**_ quite a mouthful. Can you blame me for wanting to use an alias?"

Curry didn't answer right away. "Wasn't much to go on; I had no way of knowin' who I should be lookin' for."

Eyes wide, Teddy whispered, "You really looked for me?"

Curry nodded.

Teddy bit down on her lip. "I thought you'd forgotten all about me. I know we _**said**_ a lot of things to each other that day before I left, but..." she left the sentence unfinished and sighed.

"Yeah, years later I searched, right after the amnesty finally came through. Wasn't much point before then; the outlaw trail wasn't the kind of life I wanted to give you."

"Oh, Jed...I never knew!" Teddy breathed. "You may find this hard to believe, and you may think that I'm totally loco, but I would have taken you up on the offer to stay with you," she stared deep into his eyes, "IF you had asked."

"I couldn't -"

"I know…and I understand. At the time, I didn't _**want**_ to understand, but that silver-tongued partner of yours had other ideas." Teddy reached up to lay a hand against his cheek. "I had a feeling when Heyes came in to talk with me that day that it wasn't going to be good; the look on his face put me on my guard. That and the fact that he waited until you were gone to seek me out." She smiled, "He gave me a real good first-hand look at the leader of the Devil's Hole Gang in action that day; it was very easy to see how he got to be the one in charge.

"But, to his credit, at least he was kind enough to explain why things were being done the way they were and he stressed very strongly how it was in all of our '_best interest_' if I went along with his plan. His plan," Teddy repeated and sighed. "You know, like I said, I didn't want to admit it at the time, but he _**was**_ right. What I really wanted to do was to fight his logic, to rage at him and tell him how wrong he was. I wanted to shout at him that he had no right to split us up and that he couldn't force me to do it, but instead I started to cry like a little baby, pleading with him and saying I didn't want to leave.

"Heyes put his arms around me and got me to calm down enough to listen to what he had to say. By the time he was all through explaining the reasons behind his decision, he had convinced me that I was doing _**him**_ the favor by doing things his way." Teddy shook her head at the memory. "I'll never forget what he told me, because even through all my tears the words made me laugh."

Curry cocked his head to the side and grinned, "Sounds like Heyes was on a roll. What did he say?"

"He put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a hug. That dimple of his was in full view as he said, 'Sure wish I could expect the same reaction from Kid when he finds out what I've done.'"

"As usual, Heyes was right on the money," Curry admitted with a rueful chuckle. "My reaction didn't come anywhere near yours! I came back from huntin', thinkin' I was gonna surprise you with some fresh venison for supper but instead, I was the one who got the surprise. You were long gone - lock, stock an' barrel; not one trace left to even prove you had ever been there.

"Preacher an' Kyle were jus' returnin' from takin' you to town. When they passed me, Kyle mumbled somethin' like 'I shore am sorry, Kid,' before Preacher shushed him up right quick. I thought it was kinda odd when Heyes met me on the porch of the cabin with a drink in his hand, but not enough to be suspicious; I should've been. Heyes had a big smile on his face. He was grinnin' from ear to ear an' there was a look in his eyes that I should have recognized, but I was kinda busy thinkin' of you, so my mind wasn't workin' the way it should've been," Jed grinned. "So there Heyes was, waitin' to greet me."

'Hey, Kid - welcome back! Bet you're real tired after all that hunting, huh? Sit down here and take a load off your feet.'

"He pushed me down into a rocking chair and handed me the drink, yakking all the while, like he always did."

'Here, have some whisky, Kid; you must be real thirsty, too, after spending all day out tracking down that deer, huh? Still the Champeen tracker, I see. Whatcha doing just sitting there holding that whisky - drink up!'

"I could barely keep up with what all Heyes was sayin'; he was talkin' a mile a minute. _**That**_ should have alerted me, too, but it didn't. I got that first drink down in nothin' flat. Heyes had the bottle sittin' right there on the rail, ready to pour me another one. By this time, the rest of the gang had gathered 'round.

"I remember thinkin' to myself that they all looked kinda funny when I asked 'em if they wanted to join me in a drink to help celebrate. All of 'em shook their heads no real quick. Now THAT made me wonder, but by that time, the first glass was already startin' to work, the second glass was almost gone. The last thing I remember as things started fadin' away was hearin' Heyes say,

'Sorry, Kid; trust me, it's for your own good.'

"Heyes didn't...you mean he doctored your whisky?" Teddy gasped.

"He did. The next time I opened my eyes, it was the next afternoon an' I was still so swimmy-headed, I couldn't have found the floor without directions. Heyes took full advantage of my condition an' told me how it was, knowin' I wasn't in any shape to go after you. I couldn't even get mad at him without feelin' like I wanted crawl in a hole an' die, so it wasn't until two days later that he an' I got to _'discuss' _things. I only flattened him once, but it was enough."

"You...flattened Heyes?" Teddy squeaked. "Because of _me?_"

"Sure did," Curry nodded. "The thing is, Heyes took it; said he _expected_ it, that he knew he had it comin'. I took off like a bat outta hell an' went to town, knowin' full well that you were gone, but hopin' I could at least track you down somehow. Trouble was, Preacher an' Kyle hadn't taken you to that town; no, they were smart enough to go further away. There were so many places they could've picked an' I was only one person, so I jus' stayed in town, frustrated an' so full of anger."

There was a pause while Jed sorted through his thoughts. When he began to speak again, his voice was quiet and his expression reflective. "I was so mad at Heyes; it was the closest I'd ever come to hating him for something he'd done. That made me even madder and my mood got worse, too. Should've known better, but I thought I could drink my troubles away an' well, that's where Heyes found me the next day when he came lookin' for me. As angry as I still was, I let him convince me to go back to The Hole.

"Things between us were pretty strained for quite a while; I held onto my anger, wantin' somethin' an' willin' to keep the hope alive that things could change but Heyes didn't give up. He whittled away a little bit at a time until there was nothin' left. I didn't want to, but one day I finally jus' let it go an' accepted it; you were gone an' there was nothin' I could do about it."

"Oh, my poor Jed..." Teddy whispered. She laid her head on his shoulder and reached up to lay her hand on his chest. "I'm so sorry...when there was no word from you, I figured that I should just be grateful for the time we had together. I kept up with you and Heyes by reading the newspapers, but it didn't help hardly at all. I missed you so much…"

"Missed doesn't even come close to describing how I felt!" Jed whispered fiercely and buried his face in her hair. "Despite my decision, there were a couple of times when I started to go after you anyway. If it hadn't been for Heyes' determination to keep me in line…" A faint smile turned up the corners of Curry's mouth as he remembered a time when his partner had to be a bit more persuasive in his tactics.

"Yeah, the next time we tangled, I may have been guilty of startin' it, but Heyes finished it," Jed shook his head at the memory. "Things all came to a head one day up in Devil's Hole; all the gang was there to witness it - again. There I stood, bound an' determined that I was gonna leave to go find you but Heyes was just as certain that I wasn't. We mouthed off at each other for a while until I finally exploded."

"Exploded, huh?" Eyes twinkling mischievously, Teddy teased, "I find that very hard to believe."

Ignoring her, Curry went on, "That was another of the few times in our lives that the two of us came to blows, but it wasn't like the other time I told you about earlier. This time I remembered how good it felt when I flattened him, at least until he stood up an' returned the favor. The thing was, jus' like you, deep down I knew he was right, but I was furious with him for makin' me see the sense in waitin'.

"At the same time, a part of me was smart enough to be grateful that he cared enough to make me listen to reason, so I stayed down. We patched things up between us, an' even though I never gave up thinkin' about findin' you one day, I didn't act on it. But once I had that amnesty paper in my hands, all bets an' promises were off! I even put a Bannerman Detective on your trail." Curry grinned, "Good ol' Harry Briscoe; I reminded him of the favor he owed me an' he was glad to help out. He tried everything he knew, an' then some, but never found neither hide nor hair of you; told me it was as if you had jus' upped an' disappeared."

"For all intents and purposes I _**did**_ disappear," Teddy sighed. "Not to hide from you, but to avoid some rather unpleasant personal business of my own."

"I didn't know what to think," Curry admitted, "Part of me wanted to find you in the hope that you were out there somewhere waiting for me, but the other half was afraid that I'd find out that you were married with a family and I was nothing more than an old memory." He turned to look out the window. "Then one day, Briscoe rode out here and the moment I saw his face I knew something was wrong. He handed me an envelope and said,

'I'm real sorry, Jed, wish I didn't have to be the one to deliver this kind of news to you, but since it has to be done, I wanted to do it in person.'

"Inside the envelope was the newspaper notice about your death," Curry continued quietly. "After I read it, I remember thinkin' that I wished Harry had never brought it to me, that I could still go on believing that you were out there somewhere enjoying life, living on a ranch, happy with a husband an' surrounded by a bunch of kids…" his voice trailed off.

"I wish I had known that you still cared, that you wanted me…" Teddy sighed. When Jed tightened his embrace, she ducked her head, a faint blush staining her neck and cheeks as she fiddled with a button on his shirt. "I even toyed with the idea of riding back up into Devil's Hole in the hope that you or one of the other gang members would find me and let me stay despite all the dire things Heyes warned me about. But I couldn't," she shook her head. "He had made it clear and simple before he hustled me out of there; the words kept coming back to haunt me and to cause me to have doubts. He was pretty convincing alright," she added with a shudder.

"I remember that he stressed how selfish it would be of me, how I would be putting you in danger by staying around and that I might as well be the one helping the law to put a noose around your neck. He even went so far as to point out that I could be used as a pawn against you. Any bounty hunter or lawman who wanted to get to you, they could use me as bait to do it. Heyes had one final ace in the hole to play in case everything else he had said hadn't made a significant impression upon me. His hole card was that he was positive that I wouldn't want to bear the feeling of being responsible for getting you killed – because I would have to live with that memory for the rest of my life.

"You know, Jed, to be honest, I'd never even given any kind of consideration to things like that, but Heyes had. He was very skilled at convincing me and he was also a very smart man. Smart enough that he made me promise that I would stay away in order to protect you." She raised her head so she could look into Curry's face. "I never acted on my impulse. Like you, I had to put my loco ideas on hold until I could make good my escape."

"Escape?" Curry raised a brow, "From what?"

"Not what," Teddy corrected him, "who. To make a long story short, when I returned home after my 'disappearance' and couldn't give my family any explanation other than I guessed that I had wandered off from the train and fell and hit my head and suffered temporary amnesia, they pretty much washed their hands of me. They all blamed me for causing their lives to be disrupted and did their best to make my life as miserable as possible."

"So your family never knew the real story, then?"

Teddy shook her head. "I couldn't tell them the truth. They knew I had been on that train, but since none of the other passengers saw what happened..." she hesitated and then went on, "I guess I just didn't want to share my adventure with them. They would have spoiled it for me and then I would have been left with nothing to remember. In the long run, it didn't matter anyway because all I had done was to inconvenience them by my absence. I just prolonged the inevitable.

"See the thing was, my family manipulated my life in order to punish me; they were all bound and determined to marry me off to some socially inept excuse for a man who drank like a fish – and worse, he smelled like one, too! It was to be a 'financial' arrangement; my family wanted the money, he wanted me. But the truth was that he didn't really want a wife; he wanted a toy - something that he could decorate and put on display when the mood suited him and I fit the bill perfectly.

"He was a manipulator, but his biggest problem was that when the mood didn't suit him he could be a real bas-" Teddy stopped short and substituted "bad news," instead. "He was very clever at hiding that side of him from everyone…except me. It was unfortunate for me that I knew the real man and didn't like him one bit. My family wouldn't listen, they said they didn't believe me and they couldn't understand why I wasn't grateful for the 'honor' he was bestowing upon me, or rather, them. I was accused of being spiteful, heartless and a liar."

"Sounds like you were having a pretty bad time of it, too," Curry murmured as he absently stroked her hair.

Teddy nodded and sighed, "I sure was! Now you know why I said that I'd have taken you up on staying with you up in Devil's Hole. What I just shared with you was what I had to come back to...I wish..." she stopped and heaved another sigh. "Oh, well, wishing won't change the way things were for either of us, right? Guess I should finish filling you in on what happened and then we can move on to other more pleasant topics." Her brow furrowed as she tried to think back to where she had left off.

"Let's see...oh, yes, according to my loving family I was a selfish little liar. Well, the man wasn't about to take no for an answer; he even assured my family he would take care of me, 'keep me in line.' They were pleased as punch at the thought of that, so when the possibility became a reality, I was forced to go into hiding; I gave up everything and ran. But even that wasn't enough to stop him; he hired men to track me down, so I finally resorted to faking my own death. I knew my family wouldn't miss me. With the exception of losing the money 'the arrangement' would have brought them, they didn't care one whit what happened to me. I had lost my importance and became worthless when I refused to act out the part they expected me to play."

Teddy took a fortifying breath before she continued, "We didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell, did we, Jed? You were still out there fighting to get that amnesty and I had to keep my promise to Heyes. I heard, and also read, about the wonderful news when you and Heyes received the full amnesties. I even celebrated your good fortune in my own fashion. I didn't have anyone to share my happiness with, but I sure thought about you...and Heyes, a lot.

"Unfortunately, it was still unsafe for me to contact you. I wanted to – oh, God, Jed, you don't know how much I wanted to!" She turned her face so she could look up to his eyes. "I was forced to wait until I got word of the man's death, but even then I had to be certain. There's been so much time wasted already, and when I think - "

"Shh," Curry put a finger to Teddy's lips. "Thinkin' is my job right now an' I think you an' I have got a whole lotta lost time to make up for!" he whispered and, with a roguish grin, Jed lowered his head to claim her lips once more.

**0000000**


	6. Chapter 6

**PART 6**

"_**WHAT THE HEART WANTS"**_

"_**The heart wants what it wants...or else it does not care."**_

_**~ Emily Dickinson ~**_

It was quite a considerable time later before the pair felt any inclination to leave heaven long enough to be conscious that life on earth was still going on around them.

Despite the fact that she was more than content to find herself still wrapped in Curry's embrace, Teddy heard the clock chime the hour. "Oh, Jed, I have to go! I gave my word that I would bring a story back to them."

"You _**have**_ to – or you _**want**_ to?"

"After what we've been through - how can you even ask me a question like that?" Teddy inquired; both her eyes and words were filled with reproach.

Curry shrugged, "Seems to me you could jus' send it back to 'em. What's so dang important that you have to deliver it in person?"

"It's not that simple, Jed. It's not just 'delivering' the story; part of my job is putting the story together. I don't trust anyone else to do my editing. I worked very hard to get where I am while trying to stay out of that drunken, good-for-nothing, fortune hunter's slimy hands!"

"So...just how long do you think putting a story together will take?"

"If all goes well, it should take less than a month."

"_A month?"_ Curry groaned, "A _whole _month?"

Teddy's mouth curved up into a smile, "It's only thirty days and then I can come back to stay…" she walked forward and closed the distance between them. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she stood up on tiptoe to whisper the last word in his ear, "forever."

Curry pulled her hands loose, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Hey!" Teddy cried from her precarious upside-down position, "What are you doing?"

Jed didn't answer, but continued to stride down the hallway and into his bedroom. Depositing her on the bed, he began to unbutton his shirt.

"Jed – what are you doing? I have to be on that train in four hours!"

"Don't worry, you'll be on it." He tossed his shirt on a nearby chair without even looking.

"I am _**not**_ worried - " she protested weakly and watched his henley sail past her to join the first shirt.

"Sounds to me like you are." Jed sat down next to her and began to remove his boots.

"I am _**concerned**_; there _**is **_a difference, you know," Teddy pointed out, her attention now focused on him as he stood up and began to unbuckle his belt. Unconscious of doing so, she ran her tongue over her lips and continued to stare as his fingers began to work their magic on the buttons of his pants. When the last one was unfastened the material slid down his legs and hit the floor.

Her mouth as dry as cotton, Teddy gulped and tried unsuccessfully to swallow.

"There's no reason to be worried _**or**_concerned," he continued as he stepped out of the pants and kicked them towards the chair. "In four hours you will be on that train," he promised. "But right now, I wanna give you a _**reason**_ to come back. I want you to want to come back, but most of all, I want you to know what you'll be missin' _IF_ you decide not to return."

With Jed bare-chested and clad in only the bottoms of his longjohns, Teddy was finding it very difficult to breathe and impossible to concentrate on what the man was saying. In addition, she was also discovering that it was even more challenging to formulate a coherent thought or sentence. _Pull yourself together, girl! _She took a deep breath and rose to her feet. "Oh, Jed, there's _**nothing**_ in this world that could keep me from coming back to you! We just found each other and we've already lost so much precious time - time that could have been spent together - that I don't want to waste one single minute of whatever time we have left!"

Jed stepped forward to pull her into his arms, "Except for Heyes, YOU are the only other person who has ever meant anythin' to me. I knew you were special from the first moment you woke up enough to realize that we had taken you up to Devil's Hole to see if Preacher could patch you up."

"Boy - has your memory ever sprung a few leaks!" Teddy chuckled breathlessly, her attention still fixated on Jed's bare chest. "We fought like a couple of cats and dogs at first. You know, back then we were more like a couple of prickly porcupines. We sure gave Heyes a headache or two, didn't we? But eventually we did reach a...mutual agreement of sorts."

"Yeah, you sure were a feisty little thing! I still shudder every time I think of what happened that day we first met. I can't believe I almost killed you when you stepped between me an' that walkoff, Carter, durin' that train robbery."

"Can you honestly blame me? After what I overheard him saying, bragging about how he was going to goad Kid Curry into a fight? And then I found out there were three more men hiding in the bushes waiting to ambush you and Heyes so that they could steal the money from the robbery. There wasn't time enough to warn either of you," she shrugged, "so I did the next best thing; I did what I had to do to stop them. Believe me, getting myself shot was definitely NOT part of the plan."

"What impressed me most, was that you didn't even know us then."

"I knew enough," Teddy grinned. "Besides, it was worth it since I got a newspaper story out of it, to boot. Called it, _'Shot By Kid Curry and I Lived To Tell About It'_."

Aghast at the thought, Jed managed, "You didn't...did you?"

Teddy nodded, "Since I have the scar to prove that my claim is true, Mister Curry, I most certainly did. I figured I might as well take advantage of the situation and let the world know you guys really weren't all that bad."

"I'm glad that's one story Heyes an' I both missed," he muttered, "Good thing it was jus' a story an' that Wheat an' Kyle or none of the others ever saw it neither – they never would've let me live it down!"

"Oh, it was more than 'just a story.' Once my editors saw how much attention it received they decided it was good enough to be turned into a dime novel. That was even more popular, but it ran with a different title, _'Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry: A Pair of Pretty Good Bad Men.' _Some of the best work I've ever done, if I do say so myself; sold like hotcakes – the stores couldn't keep it on the shelves."

"Wonderful," Curry groaned again and dropped his chin to hit his chest. "I can't believe you made money on me - an outlaw – who shot you an' almost killed you!"

"It's not so hard to believe - it's my job - and you _**didn't**_ kill me; that's all water under the bridge. But the end result was, that during that robbery, money wasn't the only thing that was taken. Like a bad outlaw, you stole my heart, and while I recuperated up in Devil's Hole, you charmed the rest of your way _**into**_ my heart, Jedediah Curry."

"Even when I couldn't find you, that's where I kept you…in my heart," Jed said softly. He reached across to her and began to undo the buttons on her blouse.

"Uh, Jed, I -" Teddy put her hands on top of his and buried her face into his chest.

"Hmm?" Jed murmured, nuzzling her neck; he began to work his way up to her ear lobe.

"I, uh -" Teddy had to force herself to ignore the tantalizing sensations that were turning her mind to mush. _Focus,_ she ordered herself sternly. "Jed, I - there's a problem."

"A problem? What kinda problem?" Curry tried to pull back, but that only made Teddy press her head against him even more and to hold his hands tighter in hers.

A heavy silence hung in the air.

"Teddy, darlin', whatever it is, we can solve it; but first you've gotta tell me what it is before I can help you."

"The problem," she whispered with reluctantance, "is me."

"You?"

"Yes, me!" Teddy cried, "I've never…" Unable to finish the sentence she closed her mouth and could feel the heated blush that stained her neck and cheeks.

There was a pause before Jed answered. "Oh!" Another pause. "Well…good!"

His response caught Teddy off guard; she remained still, hardly daring to breathe and wondering if she had heard him right.

In an effort to erase her doubts, Curry freed his hands, pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he assured her, his breath warm on her neck.

"But you don't - "

"Oh, but I _**do**_..." The husky promise in Jed's voice sent delicious shivers of anticipation down Teddy's back. Combined with what his roaming hands were doing to her body, his words vanquished every shred of uncertainty from her mind. She leaned into him with a moan of pleasure.

Hearing the sound and sensing her capitulation, Curry scooped her up and laid her on the bed. Lying down beside her, he covered her mouth with his and rolled over so that she was on top of him.

As they stared into each others eyes, they recognized the look and acknowledged it for what it was… something that both of them had been missing in their lives for a long, long time: trust.

**0000000**

Teddy awoke to find herself curled up on Jed's arm, staring into a pair of mischievous curry-blue eyes. A smile to rival that of the Cheshire Cat was on his face.

"What are you doing?" Teddy whispered.

"Watchin' you," Jed whispered back and kissed the tip of her nose.

"Um, okay. So what are you smiling at?"

"You," Jed repeated and wrapped a strand of her hair around his trigger finger. "Hey, do you know that you snore?" he teased.

"I do not!" Teddy protested.

"How do you know if you've never -"

"Hush!" Teddy covered his mouth with her hand. "I just know, is all! And what kind of gentleman are you to be telling me something like that anyway?"

Curry reached up and pulled her hand away but didn't release it; he wagged his brows at her. "Wouldn't exactly call my behavior very gentlemanly so far…"

"No, thank goodness it wasn't!" Teddy agreed with a contented smile. She loosened her hand from his and sat up. "Ow!" she cried as she felt the pull of her hair still held captive by Curry. She reached out to tug it away from

Jed and realized that his attention was elsewhere. "Oh!" She made a quick grab for the blanket to cover her bare torso.

Jed chuckled at her obvious discomposure. "No need to be embarrassed; I've already seen you in all your bare skin, you know. You've got this cute little mark right on your - "

"Jedediah Curry - you are horrible to tease me like this!" Still flustered Teddy glanced around the room in an effort to locate her clothes, unable to recall exactly when or where she had lost them. She gulped when her initial search turned up nothing. Not one, single solitary stitch of clothing anywhere! _Surely they couldn't have gone very far?_ More chuckling from the man beside her caused her suspicions to grow and she turned her head in his direction. "It's not funny," she snapped and shot him an irritated glare.

In an effort to appease her, Curry joined in the search and gave a desultory look around. "I think they might be over there, around the corner," Curry announced helpfully. With an unconcerned yawn, he pointed in the general direction of the furthest corner of the room. "On the rocking chair, maybe?"

"_**You think?**_ Around the corner?" Teddy followed his outstretched finger. _**"Over there?"**_ she yelped, "How'd they get way over there?"

"That's where I put 'em when I got up earlier; thought maybe you _**might**_ be a little bit grateful not to be wearin' wrinkled clothes on the train."

"The train!" Teddy wailed, bolting upright again, "Oh, no! What time is it? Jed, you promised! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

His eyes fixed on her torso again, Jed's grin was in full evidence as he teased, "Well, I might've been a tad distracted…"

"Oh, good grief!" Teddy tugged hard on the blanket until it came loose. She wrapped it around her as she swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood up, dragging the cover along with her.

"Hey!" Jed's protest was half-hearted, "If you take that with you, what am I s'posed to use? A man could catch pneumonia, you know."

"Huh?" Her mind preoccupied with runaway clothes and trains, Teddy turned around and sucked in her breath when she saw the buck-naked body of the man who was stretched out on the bed in all his glory and grinning at her. "Never mind," she whispered and hurried back to the bed. When she was close enough she flopped backwards on the mattress to stare up at the ceiling. Unwilling to concede defeat just yet, she tugged a corner of the blanket loose and threw it in his direction. "Here!" she offered ungraciously.

"Hate to tell you this, but that ain't gonna help much," Jed chuckled and scooted closer to the woman who was doing her best to ignore her tormentor. He began to nibble on her shoulder, working his way slowly towards her neck. "See, I solved the whole problem."

"Solved one," Teddy muttered, "and created another!"

"It works better when we're _**both **_under it together!" Jed suggested helpfully.

"Uh, huh..." Teddy replied, doing her best not to be sidetracked. "I'm not going to make that train…am I?" she asked in a resigned tone.

Curry tugged harder at the blanket, slid beneath it and wrapped an arm around his woman. "Oh, you probably _**could**__..._the question is…do you _**want**_ to? _**Really**_ want to?" he whispered and trailed a finger lazily from her lips, down her chin and into the valley between her breasts. "Be honest now," he breathed in-between planting butterfly kisses on her lips and neck, alternating back and forth between the two. "I believe I've heard somewhere that honesty _**is**_ the best policy…"

Silently relegating the locomotive to oblivion, and herself to the netherworld for her wanton behavior, Theodora Samantha Montgomery drew in a deep breath. "Well, Curry, if honesty is what you want," she whispered and turned into her captor's embrace, "Then I willingly surrender…take me as your prisoner!"

**0000000**


	7. Chapter 7

**PART 7**

"**A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM"**

_**A Dream Within A Dream**_

_**Take this kiss upon the brow!**_

_**And, in parting from you now,**_

_**Thus much let me avow **__**-**_

_**You are not wrong, who deem**_

_**That my days have been a dream;**_

_**Yet if hope has flown away**_

_**In a night, or in a day,**_

_**In a vision, or in none,**_

_**Is it therefore the less gone?**_

_**All that we see or seem…**_

_**Is but a dream within a dream.**_

_**I stand amid the roar**_

_**Of a surf-tormented shore,**_

_**And I hold within my hand**_

_**Grains of the golden sand **__**-**_

_**How few! Yet how they creep**_

_**Through my fingers to the deep,**_

_**While I weep - while I weep!**_

_**O God! Can I not grasp**_

_**Them with a tighter clasp?**_

_**O God! Can I not save**_

_**One from the pitiless wave?**_

_**Is all that we see or seem**_

_**But a dream within a dream? **_

_**~~Edgar Allan Poe~~**_

**0000000 **

Not even the faintest hint of a breeze stirred the late afternoon heat. The smell of rain hung heavy in the air and the sky was dark with ominous storm clouds. It was what folks called 'the calm before the storm'. The odd weather was on everyone's tongue; in fact, people were going so far as to say how it was a very strange way for Spring to make its debut.

Teddy stood listless at the pasture fence, her head lying atop arms which rested along the upper rail. Spring's unusual climatic display was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. Truth be told, her mind was in a state of numbness and had completely shut down; she could have been on a deserted island somewhere in the middle of the ocean for all it knew. All around her the sounds of ordinary, normal and everyday ranch life and the activities involved with running it filled the air. Their work done for the day, the weary ranch hands were ready for supper and were down by the river washing up.

A sudden movement caught Teddy's eyes and, unconscious of doing so, they followed the antics of a newborn foal that was cavorting around in front of her. It darted off to play in the middle of the field, kicking up its heels and chasing other foals. Out of energy, it trotted over to nurse at its mother's side. In the adjoining pasture, amid the mooing of the mature cows, baby calves stayed close to their mothers. For the little ones who strayed too far, a plaintive bawling soon followed.

From the chicken coop behind her came the peeping of baby chicks, hens clucking and the occasional crowing from a banty rooster who proudly strutted nearby. Yes, despite its auspicious beginning, Spring had indeed arrived; the sights and sounds of new life were everywhere.

_Well, __**almost**__ everywhere..._Teddy thought and heaved a deep sigh. She turned around slowly and headed back to the tall oak tree that towered behind her. She stared down at the twin mounds of dirt that lay beneath it. Eyes, which were already puffy and red-rimmed, glittered anew with fresh tears as she read the inscription on the nearest one aloud in a quiet voice:

_**~~ Hannibal Heyes ~~ **_

"_**The best cousin, friend &amp; partner **_

_**a man could ever hope to have**__**."**_

_**Born: February 12, 1852 **_

_**Died: July 4, 1919**_

It was with an even greater show of reluctance that Teddy forced herself to turn her attention to the second marker. The new grass had not had time to grow over it yet, so it was still just a mound of bare dirt. As difficult and as painful as it was, she knew this was something that she had to do. To stand there and read the words may have made it seem more real, but it didn't make it any easier to accept the truth. Her lips moved as she read what was etched into the stone but, try as she might, she couldn't quite bring herself to say the words out loud:

_**~~ Jedediah "Kid" Curry ~~ **_

"_**A good man and a good friend." **_

_**Born: March 16, 1854 **_

_**Died: April 1, 1923**_

"You two are still as close as ever," Teddy murmured, "even in death. I know that's what you both would have wanted." She walked around to the other side, lowered herself to a sitting position and laid a hand on the damp earth of Jed's grave. "I did come back, Jed - see? Just like I promised. A whole week sooner than I said, too…" She stopped to dab at her eyes and blow her nose.

"Not that it did me any good. I'm so sorry…if I had only known…I wish now that I'd stayed here instead of taking that story back…at least we would have had a few more weeks together," she sobbed, the tears coursing down her cheeks like raindrops. "But we didn't know - neither of us even gave any thought to the fact that something like this could happen - did we?"

Teddy stretched out on the ground, her head resting on the crook of her arm. "This is as close as I can get to you, Jed. You don't any idea how much I want to touch you right now, how much I want to feel your heart beating against mine. I want to hold your hand in mine, kiss your lips…but most of all I want to be able to tell you how much I love you! It's not fair," she wailed, "we only had one day together!" Her words were followed by deep, pain-filled, heaving sobs of grief that wracked her entire body.

Several minutes later, Teddy moaned and raised herself up to a sitting position. Crawling on her hands and knees until she was a short distance away, she leaned forward and retched. Time and time again she lost the contents of her stomach, until at last, the wave of nausea abated, leaving her with her arms wrapped around a stomach that felt as if it had been twisted into a pretzel.

Using a handkerchief, Teddy scrubbed at her mouth and swallowed, wishing she had some water to rinse it out. "I know I promised you, Preacher," she whispered, "You warned me this would happen and you only let me come because I promised you I wouldn't get upset…but I can't help it! Oh, Jed…what am I going to do without you – _I need you!"_

Not wanting a repeat performance of what had just happened, Teddy attempted to clamp down on her emotions. "They said you weren't in any pain, that you didn't suffer - I'm glad. I wish I could have been here with you…I don't like to think of you dying alone. After all that Heyes endured, and he was all alone..." She drew a deep, shuddering breath. "Maybe...maybe you weren't alone; I'd like to believe that Heyes was somewhere nearby waiting for you…" she fell silent.

"Uh, s'cuse me, Miss Teddy."

The soft-spoken voice behind her intruded into her thoughts and Teddy stiffened; she didn't have to turn to know the identity of the speaker. The few remaining members of The Devil's Hole gang had come for the funeral and had stayed afterwards, reluctant to leave her alone. "Yes, Kyle?"

"You okay, ma'am?"

"No!" Teddy's reply was blunt, as was her challenging question, "You going to tell anyone?"

Kyle's fidgeting belied his answer as he shuffled his feet. "Ain't my place to tell tales, Miss Teddy, 'less'n they're _**real**_ important...a man kin lose a good friend that way."

Teddy heaved a sigh of resignation. "So exactly where _**do**_ your loyalties lie, Kyle…with Preacher or with me?"

Kyle gulped and evaded her question entirely. "I'm real sorry to bother ya, ma'am," he began.

Teddy turned to face him, unable to hide her tear-streaked face. "Don't worry, it's okay; I'm just about finished here, anyway," she lied.

"Well," Kyle said and hesitated. Belatedly he remembered to reach up and remove his hat, revealing a bald pate. He held the hat gripped tight in his gnarled hands and continued, "Me an' the other fellas, well, they sent me to let ya know, that after supper, since the men are all done with the chores, we was wonderin' iffen it'd be alright for us to take off an' head on into town with 'em, bein' as how it's Saturday an' all. We thought we might be able to find a poker game or two…, nothin' too rowdy, ya know. I mean, only iffen ya think you'll be okay here, an' all."

_Saturday_...The information was received, but not processed. _It didn't really matter what day it was, did it?_

"I kin stay with ya, iffen ya don't wanna be here all alone," Kyle offered when she didn't answer.

"No, it's okay, you go on with the others; I'll be fine."

"Iffen you're _**real **_sure, ma'am…?" The hopeful look on Kyle's face as well as the tone of his voice couldn't be missed.

Teddy pulled herself together with an effort. "I'm sure, now go on and have some fun; you deserve it. You've been so very thoughtful - everyone has - but you've been like a rock for me to lean on these past two days. I don't know what I would have done without all of you. It was good of Wheat, Preacher and Lobo to come and stay around for a while, but I'm especially grateful for you, Kyle. You've made things much more bearable for me. You're a good man…and now you're a very good friend, too." As the words left her mouth Teddy's throat constricted. _How ironic, those words were the very same ones engraved on Heyes' and Jed's markers._

Embarrassed by the unexpected words of praise, Kyle ducked his head and scuffed the ground with the toe of his boot as a red blush slowly stained the man's neck and throat. "Aw shucks, ma'am; I ain't done nuthin' nobody else wouldn't've done."

"Just you being here, listening to me and sharing some of the good times you boys used to have made all the difference; you took my mind off the bad stuff for a bit. I don't know how to thank you."

Kyle's blush deepened; he turned away and cocked his head, listening. "Think I hear Wheat yellin' at me to hurry up. Guess I'd better hightail it or they'll leave without me. We won't be too late; guess I'll see ya in the mornin,' Miss Teddy, you have a good night an' try an' git some sleep, okay?"

"G'night, Kyle, I'll try," Teddy's smile was wan "You try and have some fun, okay?"

"Don't have to tell _**me**_ twice," Kyle replied and gave her a crooked grin before he plunked his hat on his head, "I shore 'nough will, ma'am." He turned to leave, but after a few steps he pivoted about. "Almost forgot, Preacher said to tell ya he left some food fer ya warmin' on the stove, an' he wants to see every bit of it gone when we get back."

Teddy forced a more genuine smile to her face for the other man's benefit and raised a hand to her forehead in a salute, "Yes, sir! Tell Preacher thank you for me; I'll try to do my best."

"Better do more'n try..." Kyle warned, "else yer gonna have somethin' else to deal with Preacher 'bout." He spared the woman on the ground a sympathetic glance. "But at least not 'till tomorrow," he sent her a conspiratorial wink and then turned and walked away.

_Bless you, Kyle Murtry..._The first real smile, as faint as it was, touched Teddy's lips for a brief instant. _I owe you so much..._

**0000000**

_**THAT SAME AFTERNOON, A BIT LATER...**_

Waving her hand in the air near her head, with yet another false smile plastered upon her face, Teddy bid goodbye to everybody. Wheat, Kyle, Preacher and Lobo waved back from their places in the buckboard. Her nod was automatic when she heard Preacher holler out something about food. She shuddered; eating was the last item on her list of things to do. She fought for control of her emotions, knowing that if she broke down now while the men were still here, she would be doomed. They would _**never**_ leave her alone ever again.

As soon as the last wagonload of men had passed through the gate, Sam curled up again on the ground and put

out a hand to rest on the damp, barren soil.

No longer forced to keep a tight rein on her emotions, she allowed them their freedom. "I know I've said this so many times already, but I'm so sorry, Jed," she sobbed, her tears making trails down her cheeks, "I don't think I can do this! Please come back, I don't want to be here all alone! I wish I could do it all over again – I promise, I'd never leave! Please, Jed..." Teddy dug her fingers into the soil. "I...KNOW...I... CAN'T...DO...THIS!" she wailed and began to pummel the earth with both fists as if her pitiful acts of desperation could somehow alter things. "I promise - I'll do anything...just please...come back...

**0000000**


	8. Chapter 8

**_PART 8_ **

"_**DEALING WITH THE AFTERMATH"**_

…JED!"

"Oomph!" Jed gasped and doubled over in pain when the unexpected blow landed in his stomach and knocked the breath out of him in a whoosh. "Hey! What in the Sam Hill!?" Still in the midst of the rude awakening from a sound sleep, he shook his head and made a grab for the whirling dervish that was making chaos out of the bedclothes.

"Teddy? Aw...c'mon, honey...wake up!" In an attempt to calm her he wrapped his arms around the frantic woman who had become entangled in the blankets. When that failed, he leaned across her chest and pinned her upper half to the bed with his weight.

Still in the throes of the nightmare, Teddy began to struggle even more earnestly. She flailed her arms and thrashed her head about, seeking escape from her captor. "Jed...please!" she sobbed, sounding as if her heart was breaking, "I didn't know - YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

Growing weary of dodging her blows, a frustrated Curry shouted to make himself heard above her cries. "TEDDY! STOP IT - WAKE UP!" Straddling her bucking body, he grabbed her hands and pinned them above her head. "Teddy, listen…I'm right here. Look at me, I haven't left you or gone anywhere - I promise!"

His words finally managed to penetrate the thick fog of fear that had wrapped itself around the woman like a cocoon. Despite the fact that she had quieted down some, Teddy lay with her eyes squeezed shut, her chest still heaving, unable to prevent the shudders that emanated from somewhere deep inside her.

"C'mon, darlin'," Curry soothed, "open those pretty eyes of yours an' look at me."

A little bit at a time, Teddy did as he requested. Once her lashes were fully raised, Jed could see the raw emotions, the pain and the anxiety that still lurked in the twin pools of brimming liquid which spilled out onto her cheeks and ran down the sides of her face.

"Jed?" she whispered tentatively, as if fearful of the response.

Curry nodded, his expression one of relief.

"It's...really you? You're not de-" Teddy stopped herself and swallowed, "gone?"

"Of course it's me, who else would it be?" Jed chuckled although he was still a trifle uneasy, "An' I'm not gone – see? I'm right here beside you. The way you walloped me a minute ago I thought I was a goner, though – for a lady you sure pack a punch!"

"It's not funny!" Teddy wailed and to Jed's consternation she burst into tears again.

"Aw, geeze, I'm sorry," Jed murmured, not sure why or what he was apologizing for. All he knew was that he wanted Teddy to stop crying. He released his hold of her and rolled off to the side, gathering her up in his arms. With a tolerant grin he kissed the top of her head and gave her an encouraging squeeze. "Calm down an' you can tell me all about it, okay? It can't be that bad, can it?"

When his words opened the floodgates even more rather than stalling the watery stream, Curry's smile deserted him and the corners of his mouth turned down in a frown. He winced when Teddy wrapped her arms around him so tight he thought he might be in danger of a few cracked ribs by morning.

"You don't feel like talkin'?" he hazarded and then released a resigned breath when she shook her head vigorously. "Okay, well then, I guess it can wait 'til mornin'. You relax an' try to get some rest, I'll jus' lay right here an' try to breathe..." Once Jed had pulled the blanket up and over their bodies he looked down in concern at the woman who clung to him like a burr. _Must've been __**some **__dream..._

Making an attempt to extricate himself, Jed tried to ease himself away but that only made her tighten her hold even more. "Well, guess I don't need much air anyway..." he muttered. It took quite a while before he felt her grip begin to slacken and her breathing return to something akin to normal. Her cries had finally subsided to a pathetic little whimper every now and then as well.

_At least she's beginnin' to relax some, _Curry thought, trying to be optimistic. _Maybe_ _I jus' might survive until mornin'. Guess I might as well try an' get some sleep, too; looks like we ain't gonna be doin' anythin' else tonight..._With a deep yawn, he buried his face in Teddy's hair and closed his eyes. _She'll tell me all about it in the mornin'..._he assured himself with an air of confidence before he dropped off back to sleep.

**0000000**

But Curry was wrong. Contrary to his assumption, not only did Teddy **not** tell him anything about whatever it was that had upset her the night before, she flat out denied any knowledge of it happening at all.

Upon opening his eyes the next morning Jed was surprised to discover that he was all alone in the bed. Sniffing the air, the tantalizing aroma of fresh coffee convinced him to get up. Throwing on a pair of pants, he padded barefoot out towards the kitchen and came to a stop just short of the doorway. Standing by the window with her back to him and cradling a steaming cup in her hand, Teddy was staring outside.

His presence undetected, he stayed put until she set the cup down on the table and, with a deep sigh, crossed her arms across her chest. With a mischievous grin on his face, Jed stealthily crossed the distance that separated them. "Boo," he whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and enfolded her in embrace.

"Oh!" The startled woman gasped in surprise and put a hand to her mouth, "Jed! Well, that's certainly one way to wake me up!" she breathed, her voice still a bit shaky.

"I was smart enough to let you set your cup down first," Jed teased and turned her around in his arms.

"G'mornin'," he whispered and leaned down to claim her lips, arching a brow in surprise when he felt Teddy stiffen and push against him.

"Wait, Jed," she began.

"Uh, uh..." he whispered and rested his forehead against hers; his frown deepened into a full scowl when she turned her head away. "Hey! This is the only mornin' I have with you an' I aim to take full advantage of every single opportunity I get to make sure you know what you'll be missin' while you're away!"

"But -" Teddy protested.

"No 'buts'," he admonished in a fierce whisper, "Not today!" If Curry had been able to look into Teddy's eyes at that moment, he would have seen the stricken look his words had evoked. However, the man had other things on his mind and, despite her protestations, proceeded to do just as he had promised. He didn't relent until he felt her capitulation.

With a small moan, Teddy threw caution to the wind. She quit resisting, leaned into him and began to return his kisses with a passion to match his. As their kisses deepened, he got his third surprise of the morning. His brain processed a fact he had been ignorant of up until now. _Teddy tasted of coffee...and scotch!_

He pulled back and looked down into a face which held a look of bemusement. "Well?"

"You have a mighty persuasive way of making a point, Mister Curry," she said as she ducked under his arm. Picking up her empty cup, she carried it over to the sink and began to wash it.

"Chicken," Jed taunted her softly, recognizing her delay tactics for what they were. He followed her and, after pouring himself a cup of coffee, leaned back against the counter and took a sip. "So," he began in a casual tone, "you feel like talkin' 'bout what happened last night?"

"Last night?" Her hand stilled inside the cup and Teddy turned sideways to give him a blank look. "What are you talking about, Jed? Did I..." she paused and swallowed, "did I do something wrong?"

"No…last night you had a bad dream - more like some kinda nightmare by the way you were carryin' on."

Holding his eyes with her own, there was a brief silence before Teddy shrugged her shoulders and went back to the dishes. "Glad it wasn't something I did but, since I can't remember a thing except for how good _**you**_ were, it must not have been anything important."

Curry straightened up, his expression dubious. "Really?"

"Honest, Jed, whatever it was, I have no recollection of it."

"It made you cry," he persisted.

With another shrug of indifference, Teddy tossed the dish towel in his direction. "Here, make yourself useful. I need to go get my things together; I _**cannot**_ miss that train today!"

As she made to go past him, Jed put out a hand to stop her. Holding her at arm's length, he looked down into her face and gave her a searching look. "You'd tell me if there _**was**_ somethin', wouldn't you?" And although Teddy smiled, he noticed it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"There's not one thing wrong," she insisted and wrapped her arms around his waist for a brief hug. When she drew back she added, "Unless you make me late, Mister Curry!" Her threatening words were accompanied by a stern look of disapproval, the effect of which was ruined by her giggling when Jed began to tickle her.

"Quit...Jed...stop it...right now...or else -" she gasped between giggles.

He raised a brow and leered at her. "Or else...what?"

Teddy dropped her chin to her chest and sighed in surrender. "I'm sure whatever dire punishment I'd suggest you'd probably enjoy it!" she muttered.

"Tell you what - I'll settle for one more kiss, an' then I promise to let you go."

Knowing any further prevarication on her part would be pointless, and unable to respond with the words her heart prompted her to say, Teddy relented and put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to her level.

Not wasting another second, Curry grinned and claimed her lips, a look of triumph on his face. He put his hand in the small of her back and pressed her closer, unable to prevent the groan of pleasure that escaped him when he felt her fingers intertwine in his hair.

It was a bittersweet moment for the man and woman, each knowing that soon hundreds of miles would be separating them. When the clock chimed the hour, Jed pulled away with great reluctance.

"Although I'd rather jus' stay right here an' tell the world to go to blazes, I have to keep my promise an' get you to that train station on time."

Still clinging to Jed for support, Teddy nodded in agreement. "I know," she whispered, "me, too." With a sigh she pulled out of his arms. "It won't take me long; I'll be right back."

Curry nodded and watched her as she gathered her things together in the living room. When she walked down the hallway with an exaggerated swagger, knowing he was still watching, a grin of appreciation lit up his face. "I may hate to see you go," he called after her, "but I sure do love watchin' you walk away!"

**0000000**


	9. Chapter 9

_**PART 9**_

"_**GET ME TO THE TRAIN ON TIME"**_

After helping Teddy up and into her hired buggy, Jed tethered his own horse to the back before he climbed in beside the journalist and picked up the reins. "Let's go, boys," he said, giving the lines a shake. The mood as they rode into town was a somber one; the driver, as well as his passenger, were both subdued, each caught up in their own thoughts and wishing they could stay together. When Jed stopped the buggy, Teddy put a restraining hand on his arm before he could jump down.

"Jed, would you mind getting my ticket for me while I do a few last minute errands? It's already paid for; you just need to tell them my name."

"Shouldn't be any problem," Curry nodded. "We made it in plenty of time; see - I kept my promise."

"Yes, you did; you're a good man, Mister Curry." As soon as the words left her mouth Teddy felt her stomach muscles clench into a knot of fear; she prayed her face wouldn't give her away. Jed's next words helped to ease her tension.

"If you knew what I was thinkin', you wouldn't be sayin' that, _Miss Twain_," he teased with a cheeky grin. Then his brow furrowed and the smile disappeared, "Guess I can't call you that now, can I? It's Miss Montgomery."

There was an impish look on Teddy's face when she leaned closer to whisper in his ear, "You can call me Miss Twain all you want, just as long as it's Teddy when we're alone."

The whistle of the approaching train forestalled any further conversation; a look of alarm crossed Teddy's face. "Oh, I'd better hurry and get my errands done or else -"

"Hold on jus' a minute," Curry jumped down and helped her to alight by grasping her around her waist and swinging her in a semi-circle to the boardwalk. He didn't release her immediately.

"I have a little errand of my own to take care of after I get your ticket settled."

"Good, I'll meet you over at the station in a little while." Teddy stepped back and turned away before she hurried down the street. When she felt she was far enough away she risked a look back. _Perfect, Jed was nowhere in sight._ The errands had merely been a red herring; she needed the time to compose herself before she had to get on that train.

Teddy looked down at her hands, trying to still their shaking. _That scotch in my coffee this morning helped a little, but not nearly as much as I'd hoped; they're still not steady enough. _Taking advantage of a nearby bench, she sat down for a moment to gather her thoughts. Her guilty conscious was berating her soundly. She was experiencing deep regret at having to tell Jed an outright lie earlier when she'd told him she didn't remember anything about the dream. No, that thing hadn't been a dream, it was exactly what he had said - a horrible nightmare - one that had shaken her to the core.

_Getting on that train today is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life and I'm going to have to keep on acting as if nothing is wrong; at least until the train pulls out of the station and away from Jed. _As if on cue, hearing the man in question calling her name from just down the street intruded into her thoughts and spurred her into action. _No - I'm not ready yet! _She leapt to her feet and dashed into the nearest doorway in the hopes of eluding him for a just a few more minutes.

It was only as she pushed the door shut behind her and turned around that she realized her error in judgment. With her back pressed flat against the solid wooden structure, the doorknob still gripped tight in her hand, Teddy's face bore evidence of only the merest hint of her dismay. _Of all the shops in town that I could have picked, I ended up in here?_

She plastered a big smile on her face and nodded to the patrons at large, all male and all of whom had stopped talking and whatever activity they had been engaged in doing before her arrival to openly gape in startled surprise at her. There were a couple frowns of disapproval, some bafflement, some frank looks of appraisal and even a few toothy grins. And curiosity. Yes, there was plenty of that everywhere she looked.

One of the whiskered old-timers at the checkerboard seemed frozen in place. Still holding on to the checker, his hand hovered over the board in mid-air while he gazed at her as if he were witnessing a heavenly vision that had somehow miraculously appeared to him. Teddy had to suppress a laugh as his glasses slid unnoticed to the end of his nose.

The barber stood behind his current customer gripping his shears in one hand, a hunk of the man's hair in the other and both males were ogling her as if she were some kind of an alien from outer space that had suddenly materialized inside the shop.

Teddy pursed her lips together and sighed. _Well, in a way, I guess that description fits me pretty well; I __**DO**__ stick out like a sore thumb in here. _"Oh, dear, I'm so sorry," she apologized with a gracious smile and reached behind her, fumbling around for the knob. Locating it at last, she grasped it firmly in her hand and wrenched the door open.

"Silly me, I thought I'd find my man in here; he said he needed a haircut," she babbled on, "But it seems I was mistaken and since I don't see him anywhere, I'll just be going on my way now..." Dashing outside to safety, she took a second to look up and read the sign of the shop next door. "General Store - that's going to have to do - I don't have time to go anywhere else!"

Without further ado, Teddy ducked inside and headed for a spot the farthest away from the door in the hope she could have a moment to catch her breath. She tried to give the appearance of a customer busy shopping for something - anything – at this point, she didn't care what. As she continued to browse haphazardly through the merchandise, she realized that she had no clue whatsoever of what she had just touched, looked at or put back; her mind just wasn't on it. Head bent, Teddy continued to rummage around and picked up another object at random from a shelf next to the display. She examined it with a perplexed expression, turning it this way and that in her hands. _Hmm, I wonder what __-_

"Guess you didn't hear me callin' you, huh?"

"Oh!" Teddy gasped and whirled about to find the man she had been trying to avoid standing right behind her.

"Jed, you startled me – you're so silent, like a church mouse!" She continued to babble, "My goodness, you're making a habit out of scaring me today, aren't you? My heart is beating a mile a minute!" She glanced down at his booted feet and wondered how a man his size could be so quiet and raised her eyes to his. "I'm sorry…you said you were calling me just now?"

"No, it was right before you disappeared into the barber shop next door." His expression was quizzical as he went on, "Which reminds me, what in tarnation were you doin' in there?"

"Oh, I'm so embarrassed! I wasn't watching where I was going and, well, let's just say we were all very surprised; I meant to come in here."

Curry eyed what she was holding in her hand with undisguised curiosity. "You find what you were looking for?"

Teddy glanced down at the object. "Um...yes."

"Journalists have much use for one of those?"

"Oh, yes," Teddy replied quickly with a decisive nod of her head, "They come in very handy when we do our stories. I've wanted one of these for a very long time; they're extremely hard to find."

"Uh, huh. Well, you're the expert, so I guess I'll have to take your word on it." He pulled his watch from his vest pocket. "It's almost time to get you on board that train," he reminded her.

"Why don't you go on ahead? I'll just pay for this and meet you there."

"I think I'd rather wait for you and we can walk over together. You don't mind, do you? I'd like to spend as much time with you as I can before you go."

Teddy groaned inwardly._ How can I say no to him? _Concealing her frustration, she summoned a smile to her face. "I don't mind at all, Jed; I'd love to have you walk with me," she assured him brightly.

He followed along behind her up to the front of the store. The clerk came over and looked down at the object on the counter and his face lit up with a broad grin. "I can't tell ya how glad I am to sell this to ya, mister. It's been here so long I thought I was gonna have to take a loss on it. 'Scuse me just a minute, folks." He turned around,

"Hey, Ellie," he hollered, "c'mon out here for a minute, will you? I've got something I want you to see."

"Be right there, Ed," a feminine voice answered.

Curry smiled at the man. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not your customer." He inclined his head towards the woman at his side, "She is."

"Oh." The clerk studied Teddy intently for a moment in silence. "You do much surveyin', ma'am?" he inquired, his polite tone tinged with skepticism.

"She uses in her work as a journalist," Jed supplied before Teddy could answer.

With a wish that she was a mouse and could escape through a little hole in the wall, Teddy settled for looking down at the floorboards and counting to ten in silence.

"You don't say?" Ed scratched his head and then chuckled. "Well, you're a payin' customer so if you say so, who am I to argue with you?"

Wiping her hands on a towel, a woman came through the door behind the clerk and joined him at the counter. "Good afternoon, folks. What'd you need me for, Ed? I was in the middle of tallyin' up the supplies that just came in." Catching sight of the object on the counter she picked it up and gave her husband a questioning look.

"What's this crazy old thing doing up here?" she laughed.

"This little lady here is fixin' to buy that surveyor's whatchamacallit. The man says she's a reporter an' that she uses it when she does her writin' stuff."

"Journalist," Teddy mumbled under her breath to no one in particular.

Ellie grinned. "Honey, I don't care if you use this thing to lead a parade down the middle of Main Street! Once you pay for it, it's yours and you can do whatever you want to with it." She turned to Ed. "I bet you're as happy as a pig in mud puddle, aren't you?"

"I am," he nodded, another ear-splitting grin creasing his face. Taking the money Teddy handed him, Ed counted it out before dropping it into the register. "You want me to wrap this up for you or would you rather carry it like it is?" he asked.

Even though she could have cared less what he did with it, Teddy knew she had to make a choice or they'd never get out of there. "Wrap it up, please; I have to take it with me on the train."

Ed had the item wrapped in no time. "Well, ma'am, hope it does everythin' you want it to," he said as he held it out to her. "I sure am glad you came in to our store today an' found it."

"Me, too," Teddy gave him a weak smile and reached out to take the package.

"I'll carry that for you," Jed intercepted the bundle and tucked it under his arm, "Wouldn't want anythin' to happen to such a valuable piece of equipment now, would we?" Taking Teddy by her elbow, he tucked it into the crook of his other arm and the pair began to make their way back to the station. Hearing the train whistle blow, they picked up their pace a bit; any further conversation would have to wait until they reached the platform.

**0000000**


	10. Chapter 10

_**PART 10**_

"**A NEW AMNESTY DEAL"**

_"**Not only did I lie about lying, but I lied about lying about lying. And you'd better believe that's the truth." **_

_**~~Jarod Kintz~~**_

**0000000**

"All aboard!" the conductor called out as they neared the platform and stepped up onto it, "All aboard!"

_I don't want to go! _Teddy swallowed, hoping to dislodge the lump in her throat and tried to breathe normally. _What if the dream wasn't just a dream? What if it was a premonition? Or a bad omen?_ _I don't want to leave you again, Jed! _Teddy found herself in the position of having to force yet another fake smile to her face. In contrast, her hands were clenched, the fingernails digging into her palms as she turned to the man beside her. "Well, it looks like it's time..." she began, her words sounding hollow and stilted.

Jed fished around in his pockets. "Now where did I put that daggone ticket?" he muttered irritably and thrust her package at her. "Here, hold your - your _**whatever**_ it is!" he groused and continued his search, patting first one pocket after another but still coming up empty-handed. His agitation increased as he began his search all over again starting back at the beginning. "It was right here jus' a minute ago!" Continuing his monologue, he snapped, "It doesn't have legs - so it couldn't have jus' walked off!"

"Um, Jed-"

"I swear I had it in my hand an' then I put it somewhere safe...where is it?" he muttered in exasperation as he turned another pocket inside out and came up with only lint.

Teddy waved a piece of paper in front of him. "Jed-"

"What!?" the distracted man snapped and then he took notice of what she held in her hand. "Where'd you get that?" he demanded.

"You handed it to me with my package," Teddy explained. She watched with an amused expression while Jed nodded and continued his search. She wondered what else he might have misplaced.

Then he smiled as his fingers slipped into his breast pocket. He patted it and released a deep sigh of relief.

"Good, that's one less thing to worry about," Curry murmured with a quick glance around the depot. Since most of the other passengers had already boarded, the place was pretty well deserted. Jed touched his breast pocket again nervously and cleared his throat. He took hold of Teddy's hands and began, "Uh, Teddy, there's somethin' I wanna ask you -"

"ALL ABOARD!" The porter stood by the steps giving them a glacial look of disapproval. He pulled out a watch and made a great show of looking at it before he pinned the couple with a pointed look.

"Dammit - there's not enough time!" Jed ran a frustrated hand through his hair, "I have somethin' I wanna give you, but it'll have to wait 'til you get back. I wanna do this right -"

"LAST CALL...ALL ABOARD!" the porter announced with finality and snapped his watch shut. The train whistle blew again, adding emphasis to his words. He stepped up on the bottom stair and waited.

"It'll be okay," Jed muttered, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself as well, "Like you said, it's only four weeks -"

"Three!" Teddy was quick to correct him, "I'll work as fast as I can!"

"Three weeks is even better. We can do this...can't we?" His curry blue eyes searched for assurance, but found only the top of the woman's head.

Although Teddy had steeled herself for this moment, she found she couldn't look Jed in the eyes and settled for the center of his chest instead. Knowing he was waiting for her answer, she nodded. _I will NOT break down; I will NOT cry..._

Sensitive to her moodiness, Jed kept his tone light. "Well, then, c'mon, let's get you on that train. The sooner you go, the sooner you can get back, right?"

Again, a nod was all Teddy could manage.

While they traversed the short distance to the train, Jed kept up a running monologue. "Three weeks really isn't a long time; it's only twenty one days. You'll be busy with your story, I'll be busy with things here at the ranch; the time will pass before we know it. I mean, what could possibly happen between now and then? I'll be right here waiting for you."

Having reached the train, Jed turned to face Teddy so that the porter was behind him, hidden from view. He ignored the man's loud cough and gathered the woman in his arms. "I mean it, Teddy," he whispered fiercely, "the minute you know you can come back, you send me a message, you hear?"

Teddy nodded.

Jed pulled back, not surprised to find himself staring at the top of Teddy's head again. Cupping her chin in his hand, he tilted it up until he could look into her eyes. "I love you, Theodora Samantha Montgomery! I want you to remember that, an' when you come back, I'm gonna show you all over again jus' how much. Until then, I'll be countin' the minutes - no, the seconds - until you get back here, so you'd best get a move on!" Under the circumstances, knowing that several pairs of eyes were watching them from the train windows with avid curiosity, Jed gave Teddy a more chaste kiss than he desired and sent her up the steps before she could say a word.

Not that she _**could**_ have said anything, but she wasn't given the chance. Free of Jed's scrutiny at last, a few of the tears she had held back made their escape to make a watery trail down her cheeks. She made her way blindly down the aisle and slid into the first unoccupied seat she came to that was on Jed's side of the train. Teddy tossed her valise, package and portfolio on the unoccupied seat opposite her and swiped at her eyes.

After taking a deep breath, she scooted over as near to the window as she could get and pressed her face close to it. There were only a handful of people remaining on the platform, so it wasn't difficult for her eyes to find Jed. Teddy stared at the man, committing his image to memory. _You're wrong, Jed... three weeks is a lifetime!_

Jed's eyes searched for and found Teddy and she realized that all traces of his smile were missing from his face.

Truth be told, the man looked even more miserable about her leaving than Teddy was about going. Her previous thoughts came charging back in full force to taunt her. _What if something __**did**__ happen? What if Jed __**wasn't**__ here when she came back? What if her dream came true and he died? What if -_

The train whistle sounded shrilly, signaling departure; there was a slight lurch as it began to move. Teddy tried to smile but found it impossible this time; instead, she gave a feeble wave of her fingers for Jed's sake. The train began to creep along at a sluggish pace.

Her anxiety mounting as the seconds ticked by, Teddy began to berate herself. "I never told you I love you, Jed," she whispered. "What happens if you have some kind of accident before I get back and you never know? I don't want to go - I want to stay here with you!" She turned away from the window and, without any further hesitation, grabbed her valise and portfolio.

Before anyone realized her intent or could stop her, she disappeared out the back of the train and stood outside the door watching the platform slowly disappear. When she turned to look down and saw the distance between herself and the ground she resumed talking to herself. "It's not going _**too**_ fast, yet...so if I'm going to jump, it had better be soon...and there's all that nice, tall grass to break my fall, no trees or rocks to land on -"

"Teddy!"

Surprised at hearing her name, Teddy looked back to discover that Jed, who had been walking along the platform following the train, had descended the stairs and was now walking at a fast clip, following the train just a short distance back. She took a step down.

"Teddy - have you gone completely loco?" Curry yelled, waving his arms in the air, "Get back inside!"

Concentrating on ignoring both Jed's shouts and her own mind which was echoing exactly the same sentiments, Teddy bit down on her lip and put her foot on the bottom step.

Realizing that Teddy was courting disaster, Jed picked up his pace. "The hell you are!" he growled. "You stay put - I'll be right there to get you!"

The train began to pick up speed and Teddy watched the ground disappear at a slightly faster rate. She took a quick look back, calculating the distance between the train and Jed. There was no way he was going to be able to catch up now.

Curry had already arrived at the same conclusion and had stopped dead in his tracks.

_It's now or never..._

Jed made one last attempt. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled, "Stay on the train - get off at the next stop - I'll meet you there!" He groaned in frustration when the woman gave no indication that his words had reached her. _I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt, but considerin' your track record so far, I'm gonna bet you're pretendin' you can't hear me!_

Teddy took a deep breath, counted to three, closed her eyes...and jumped. Tucking herself into a ball, with the handle of her bag hooked on the arm wrapped tight around her portfolio, she landed on the grassy hill and rolled with the fall. Down the hill she rolled…and rolled...and rolled.

When she finally came to a stop, she lay motionless in the late afternoon sun right where she was and waited for the dazed, disoriented feeling to subside. While she waited, she mentally took stock of her body, checking for any possible injuries she might have sustained. She had just finished her examination, relieved not to find any that were life-threatening, when the sound of booted feet sliding to a halt sent a shower of rocks and debris flying in her direction and alerted Teddy to the fact that Jed had arrived.

Suddenly the warmth of the sun was blocked by a shadow - a shadow that panted...and growled. "If you're...not dead...you're gonna wish...you were!" the gasping shadow thundered before he dropped to his knees to land on the ground beside her.

Teddy raised a hand and wiggled her fingers just enough in the growling one's general direction to let him know she was aware of his presence. Hearing the anxiety that took a slight precedence over the anger in his voice, Teddy decided it might be prudent if she added vocal recognition as well. "Thank you for your show of concern, Mister Curry. I'm not sure, but I _think_ I survived...probably be sore tomorrow…maybe even think it might not have been one of my best plans..."

"I'm pretty sure...I can help you...with that last one!" Jed snapped in between gasps for breath.

Teddy paused long enough to take another fortifying breath and then plunged ahead, taking the growling tiger by the tail. "Please...don't be mad, Jed; I just couldn't do it. I tried, but in the end I was too scared that something would happen to you before I could tell you that I love you." _There. Whatever else happened, she had finally told him; she felt much better._

"So, because you love me, an' because you _**thought**_somethin' _**might**_ happen to me before you returned, you decided to throw yourself off a SPEEDIN' TRAIN AN' KILL YOURSELF?" he yelled loudly enough to startle a nearby group of sage hens into taking flight.

_Wonder if Jed ever spent any time living with grizzly bears? _Teddy found herself pondering as she listened to his rant. "Yes - blame it on that stupid nightmare I had."

"Huh?" He pierced her with a look through eyes that had narrowed into slits at her admission, "I thought you said you didn't remember it?"

"I lied."

"That's becoming quite a habit with you," Curry eased himself down into a sitting position on the ground beside her and stretched his legs out, relieved to find them both still in one piece and functioning properly. "Should I even ask why?"

"It seemed so real! It was kinda strange in a way, since all of your old Devil's Hole Gang was there, too. Preacher, Lobo, Wheat and Kyle – he was in it the most. I should've known then it couldn't be true, since Kyle's the only one left, now that Heyes is gone…" Teddy heaved a deep sigh. "Well, in the nightmare, you died before I could come back. I don't know how or why - it didn't matter - but you were dead and I was left all alone. And - and I never got to tell you something; something real important."

"Uh, huh."

"And just to set the record straight, I wasn't trying to kill myself. The train wasn't going _that _fast."

"You came damn-near close enough!" Curry snapped. With his breathing gradually returning back to normal, Jed glanced over at the railroad tracks. "This kinda reminds me of the time me n' Heyes ran into Harry Brisco an' ended up helpin' him get his job back as a BDI man." He shook his head at the memory. "I couldn't get ON the train that time. Almost ripped my arm clean off an' I ended up lyin' flat on my back, the same way as you - 'cept I didn't have any soft hills to roll down.

"They're really not that soft," Teddy groaned.

"I never was any good at tryin' to catch or jumpin' trains, even way back then; scared Heyes half to death – bad enough he thought I was a goner." He expelled a weary sigh. "I'm gettin' too damn old to be chasin' those things anymore, so if you'll promise me you'll NEVER do somethin' like this ever again maybe - jus' _**maybe**_ \- I _**might**_ be willin' to offer you amnesty - _**IF **_you promise to behave yourself for the next twenty years or so."

"Sounds like a good deal to me, as long as I can serve my sentence out on the ranch with you." Teddy turned to face him, an impish grin on her face. "Kinda like the idea of you as my warden."

"I have a few connections; I'll see what I can do." He reached over to move the portfolio out of the way and put it on his other side. His eyes searched the area surrounding Teddy and then he shrugged. "I give up, I don't see it."

"Don't see what?"

"Your whatchamacallit - you know, that thingamajig you bought at the general store today. I don't see it anywhere."

"Oh, that...it's taking a ride on the train."

"A ride? You mean you forgot it?"

"Nope, I left it."

"On purpose?"

"Yep."

"I thought it was going to help you with your writing?"

"Sorry, guess I lied about that, too," she admitted with another deep sigh, although she didn't sound in the least bit remorseful.

"Noooo...?" Blue eyes wide and his mouth slack-jawed, Jed appeared the epitome of scandalized disbelief.

"Hogwash!" Teddy rolled her eyes, "You knew all along, Mister Curry -"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk - all that lyin'..." Jed shook his head with mock disapproval, "I don't know what I'm gonna do with you, Miss Montgomery! Why I jus' might have to _pe-na-lize_ you; maybe add some _**extra conditions**_ to your amnesty."

"Oh, no - not extra conditions!" Teddy cried in mock horror, playing along and looking appropriately appalled at the thought before she turned on her side to face him. An inquisitive look replaced the other expression on her face. "Like what?"

"Oh, really, really terrible ones," Jed edged closer and stretched out flat on the ground beside her. Propped up on one elbow, he shook his head and on his face there was an expression of deep regret. "Lyin' carries the stiffest penalty of all, you know. First off, your sentence gets changed from twenty years to life. There's no appealin' the decision an' there's no chance of parole - 'specially for someone with a history like yours. There _**might**_ be a chanceof gettin' out early with good behavior..."

"Life, huh? That _**does**_sound serious. I'll take whatever time we've got and not argue with you about that condition. But, as for the 'good behavior' part, since you're my Warden, I feel compelled to warn you not to put any bets on that happening if I were you," Teddy winked at him.

"I can only hope," Jed whispered before he reached over and picked up her left hand to hold in his own. "The next condition is ten times as bad," he announced with another deep sigh. "Some people claim it's worse'n gettin' handcuffed," his expression became even more somber as he continued, "'Cos there isn't a key to unlock it. I've heard tell it requires the services of a preacher or a Justice of the Peace, an' then there's the little matter 'bout puttin' some kind of a metal band around the third finger of this hand right here…" Curry's lips twitched with his efforts to refrain from smiling at the transformation that was taking place on Teddy's face.

Teddy's lips parted, but he didn't allow her to speak.

"Accordin' to tradition, I should be down on one knee," Jed continued, "but takin' into consideration that so far nothin' else in this relationship has been done by the book, this will have to do." He reached into his inside breast pocket and pulled out a small leather pouch. "My little errand earlier today," he explained in response to the unspoken question on Teddy's face, "Had it in safe-keepin' at the bank.

"I really wanted to do this _**before**_you left on the train today, but what with chasin' you all over town, time got away from me an' it didn't work out. So, I changed my plan to fit the circumstances - somethin' I learned from Heyes. He always said it was a good idea to have a backup plan - plan B. So then, I was gonna do it when you came back, but_**that**_plan went south when you jumped off the train an' nearly killed yourself. So, this…well, this is plan C...an' I think I'd better take care of this right here an' now before somethin' else happens 'cos I sure don't have a plan D!"

Working one-handed, Jed loosened the cord around the neck of the pouch and dumped out what was inside. Picking it up and holding the object between his thumb and trigger-finger, a slow grin crossed his face. "Heyes didn't have much use for personal things, but this ring meant something special to him. Someday I'll share that story with you; I think you'd appreciate it an' I'd like to think Heyes would want to be a part of this."

He paused a moment to stare at the circle of metal. "He wore this ring a lot, but he didn't put it on that day. If he had, I'm sure they would've taken it an' nobody would've been any the wiser." He lifted his eyes to Teddy's. "Bein' as how it was such short notice it won't be the right size, but for right now I thought I'd see if you might be willin' to let it have a special place on your hand anyway - until we can make it right?"

Momentarily bereft of speech, Teddy could only nod; her heart was racing at a pace so fast she thought she might pass out. _Good thing I'm already flat out on the ground..._The thought of pinching herself to make sure it wasn't all another dream crossed her mind, but when she felt the warmth of Jed's hand clasped around hers she knew without a doubt it was very real this time. "A ring, Jed? _**This**_ is what you thought you'd lost back at the train station, isn't it?" she whispered.

A sheepish look upon his face, Jed nodded. The circle of metal between his trigger finger and thumb glinted as it caught a ray of sun and he smiled. "It's not just a ring; this as a band of trust between us." Still holding her hand wrapped inside his, curry-blue eyes looked deep into Teddy's as Jed brought the ring close to her finger. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, "Miss Theodora Samantha Twain Montgomery, will you do me the honor of acceptin' this ring an' sayin' yes to becomin' my wife?"

Overcome with emotion, Teddy nodded again; her eyes filled with tears of happiness as she watched Jed slide the band of silver onto her finger. It was perfect; she couldn't care less if it didn't fit. _We owe you so much, Heyes, you'll __**always**__ have a place in our lives as well as in our hearts…_

"YES…Jed Curry – YES – a thousand times, yes!" A laugh of pure joy rang out as Teddy wrapped her arms around Kid's neck in her exuberance. "And just in case there's still any doubt about how I feel…I _**DO**_ love you Jedediah Curry!"

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**** The poem **_**"The Spider and the Fly"**_

**Written by Mary Howitt (1799-1888), it can be found at:**** . **

**It was originally published in 1829. When Lewis Carroll was readying **_**"Alice's Adventures Under Ground"**_** for publication, he replaced a parody he had made of a negro minstrel song with a parody of Mary's poem. **_**"The Lobster Quadrille",**_** which is an important part of **_**Alice's Adventures in Wonderland**_**, is a parody of Mary's poem concerning a spider and a fly.**

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***** GANG REFERENCES:**

**Here is one of the links I used to support my use of violence in this story:**

** news/history-lists/7-infamous-gangs-of-new-york**

"**The Five Points Gang" and the "Dead Rabbits Gang" still had members as late as the 1920's. I found the legend** **of "Hellcat Maggie" to be of particular interest since I had never thought of women as gang members back then.**

"**Dandy" Johnny Dolan of the "Whyos Gang" was my inspiration for Anthony Part, aka Pokerface Tony, aka Anthony Cardone. **

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****** TENNIS NOTES: Although the origins of tennis are not clear, many experts believe tennis, then called** **LAWN TENNIS**, **was invented in 1873 by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, a British army officer. Although Wingfield claimed that he modeled the game, which he called Sphairistiké (Greek for "playing at ball") after an ancient Greek game, many authorities believe that he adapted the principles of the popular **

**English games of court tennis, squash rackets, and badminton for outdoor play. **

**Early players preferred to call Wingfield's game TENNIS-ON-THE-LAWN, or LAWN TENNIS. The game was introduced to Bermuda in 1873, and from Bermuda it was brought to the United States by Mary Ewing Outerbridge of Staten Island, New York. **

**The first game of lawn tennis in the United States was probably played in 1874 on the grounds of the Staten Island Cricket and Baseball Club.**

******* TENNIS WEAR FOR MEN***** **

**In the early twenties, a budding tennis ace might be turned out in gray rather than white, in flannel trousers or "ducks," slightly baggy pleat-waisted pants that usually featured turn-ups despite the tendency of players to catch their heels in the flap. A cotton shirt would be teamed with a brightly colored blazer, typically badged and braided with "Club colors" and two-tone shoes were worn in soft leather, treated daily to keep them fresh and clean. **

**"Whites" had been temporarily abandoned, viewed as impractical due to frequent staining with grass and mud.**

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******** WHAT WAS TENNIS LIKE IN THE 1920'S?***** **

**Well, they were the same rules but the rackets were much different. They were wooden, which changed the game a little more like what it is now, because today it is all power hitting, meaning you have to hit hard, but back then it was all placement.**

**Not only have the frame materials changed but, even more importantly, the allowable size of the racquet head is much greater now than it was only about 30 years ago. This has also added power and allowed greater range in string tension, which have both contributed to the modern "brush" stroke in tennis and more back court play.**

**Also, all Majors prior to 1968 were only open to amateur players - which, believe it or not, was where the Prestige lay - not in the 'professional' circuit. Because of this, the greater number of players did not turn professional.**

**So, back in 1920, nearly all players were amateur, the grass court tournaments held the most prestige, and tennis was mainly run by 'lawn tennis associations'. As tennis developed beyond the 1920's, the better grass court players soon learned that the better technique on grass was to be the serve and volley game.**

**Read more: Q/What_was_Tennis_like_in_the_1920%27s#ixzz1dg6pWTTs**


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